[4/30/24] Updates and Forecast on Corporate Crimes in Asia

Corporate fraud is a growing problem across the world. In response to this situation, more governments have enforced anti-fraud legislation. In Asia, not a few regional authorities tightened their penalties for fraudulent behaviours, governance codes continue to evolve to ensure responsible management in each country, and proxy advisory institutions and elevated the proxy voting guidelines to strengthen corporate governance, and thus, deter fraud. However, these efforts have not yet resulted in a reversal of trends. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged periods of remote work weakened the governance for fraudulent behaviour, which led to an increase in opportunities for fraud, particularly cybercrime. Corporate fraud can have devastating consequences, and hence, fraud prevention is crucial.

Today, GW visiting scholars from Korea and Japan share the updates and forecast on corporate crimes, aiming to provide meaningful insights for preventing fraud in Asia. Specifically, Seongkwang Seo provides legal perspectives given his prosecutor experience, and Asuka Takaoka argues academically and professionally.

Agenda:

13.00-13.10 Welcoming and introduction by Hiromi Ishizawa

13.10-13.40 Presentation by Seongkwang Seo

13.40-13.55 Q&A

13.55-14.25 Presentation by Asuka Takaoka

14.25-14.40 Q&A

14:40-14.45 Closing by Hiromi Ishizawa

Speakers

Asuka Takaoka has a wealth of consulting experience spanning the globe. For the past thirteen years, she has been a management consultant at the Frankfurt and Tokyo offices of McKinsey & Company, as well as a human resources consultant in London and Tokyo. Most recently, she took on a regional role in Asia for the assessment practice at Willis Towers Watson, a leading human resources consulting firm. With expertise in CEO succession planning, executive assessment and development, and board effectiveness, she holds qualifications from the British Psychological Society, Hogan Assessments, SHL OPQ, and Saville Assessment.

At GLOBIS University, she lectures for courses such as Leadership Development, Ethics, and Values. She also researches corporate governance as a visiting scholar at George Washington University in the United States. She is the founder and CEO of Bancho Board Advisory Co., Ltd.

Seongkwang Seo is a prosecutor of South Korea. After passing the bar exam in 2009 and training at the Judicial Training Institute for two years, he joined the prosecutor’s office in 2011. He has worked for 13 years in various district prosecutors’ offices, and is currently working at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office.

He has experience in investigating various crimes, including public security cases (election crimes, illegal political fund crimes, etc), corporate crime cases, bribery cases, sexual crimes, and economic crimes. He is also experienced in maintaining the prosecution of the various cases mentioned above at trial. In particular, he specializes in election crimes and political fund crimes in the field of public security investigation, and has been working in the public security investigation department for many years.

In recognition of his contributions as a prosecutor, he was awarded the Minister of Justice’s Commendation for Public Security Affairs in 2017. He also received the Prosecutor General’s Award for Exemplary Prosecutor in the second half of 2019 and the Prime Minister’s Commendation for Prosecutorial Affairs in 2021.

Based on his experience as a prosecutor, he is going to research the latest U.S. cases and scholarship on the admissibility of evidence for electronic file documents created on computer or other electronic devices, a topic that has become increasingly important in recent years.

Moderator