In South Korea, the former Chief Executive Officer for domestic casino operator, Kangwon Land Incorporated, has reportedly been sentenced to serve a three-year prison term after being found guilty of conducting unfair hiring practices.

Illicit hiring charges:

According to a Tuesday report from the Yonhap News Agency, Choi Hung-Jib (pictured) led the state-run casino firm from 2011 to 2014 but stood down after being indicted on charges that he had unfairly hired employees at the request of local politicians.

Guilty verdict:

The news service reported that the guilty verdict from a district court in the city of Chuncheon saw Choi immediately remanded into custody where he is now set to join two other former Kangwon Land Incorporated executives in serving time over the affair.

Nation’s largest casino:

Kangwon Land Inc is responsible for Kangwon Land Casino, which is the only South Korean casino that permits locals to gamble alongside foreign nationals. Opened in 2000, the rural facility’s 293,757 sq ft gaming floor is the Asian nation’s largest and features a collection of around 180 gaming tables as well as approximately 1,360 slots.

GGRAsia cited a September story from The Korea Times newspaper in reporting that only 518 of the around 5,200 people that had applied for jobs at the Kangwon Land Casino in 2012 and 2013 had been successful. It was later purportedly alleged that Choi and a pair of associates had illegally doctored the assessments of some of these candidates in favor those with ties to high-profile politicians.

Politicians indicted:

Further up the food chain and local public broadcaster, KBS World Radio, reported in July that national legislators Kweon Seong-Dong and Yeom Dong-Yeol from the opposition Liberty Korea Party had been indicted on abuse of power charges connected with the Kangwon Land Casino hiring scandal. This purportedly came four months after South Korean President Moon Jae-In ordered 266 employees of the casino to be dismissed following a probe that had uncovered multiple unfair hiring practices.