A Korean man in his 50s turned himself in to police after spending 19 years abroad to evade penalties for embezzling hundreds of millions of won with his brother-in-law.

The Suncheon branch of the Gwangju District Court said Sunday it had sentenced the 54-year-old man to three years prison for the embezzlement of 950 million won ($872,000) from the bank where his brother-in-law was employed.

A police investigation revealed the man had suggested his brother-in-law, who worked in the bank’s loan department, take out clients’ money and flee abroad together. The brother-in-law-turned-accomplice had recently lost big through a mishandled stock investment.

The two fiddled with the bank’s cyber network to take out the money. They left the country with their family in 1998 to live in the Philippines.

The suspect came forward with his criminal past at the Korean Embassy in the Philippines in June this year, apparently following his family’s advice and out of his desire to return home. He was arrested at the Incheon Airport in July.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)