A deputy manager-level employee of Citibank Korea is accused of secretly recording the private bodily areas of a female employee during working hours.
According to a Newsis broadcast on November 9th, employee A, who is employed at Citibank's headquarters, used the camera on his mobile phone to secretly capture images of a female employee’s private areas. The incident took place at the end of September and was exposed by other employees who noticed his suspicious behavior.
According to the female employee B, she had a strange feeling about employee A, so she informed her team leader (a Department Head), who questioned employee A and subsequently reported it to the Department. The team leader was reported to have asked employee A to reveal the photos in his phone.
The photo album in the phone belonging to employee A contained a large number of photos of legs of women, presumably female co-workers. During his interrogation, employee A is reported to have used his record of previous psychiatric treatment to explain his behaviour.
Citibank did not open any disciplinary proceedings against employee A even after a month after the incident. Although measures to remove an employee from his position are excluded from front line work, he is on a type of “appointment waiting list,” meaning he is able to return to work at any time.
A Citibank official said that the company "will submit [this case] to the disciplinary office soon.” He did not disclose exactly when actions were taken to release employee A from his position or when he first became aware of the incident.
A lawyer specializing in sex crimes said, "Arguments about the perpetrator and victim aside, if this incident took place during working hours, the company must accept responsibility; however, most companies are more concerned with trying to prevent such issues from leaking outside of the company.” He emphasized, “when something like this happens, it is incumbent upon the company to immediately investigate the situation and punish the perpetrator to prevent secondary damage.”