This composite file photo shows a Woori Bank employee, left, and his brother, who are suspected of embezzling company funds, exiting Namdaemun Police Station in central Seoul to be sent to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office on May 6. Yonhap

An employee of major commercial bank Woori Bank was sentenced to 13 years in prison Friday for embezzling 61.4 billion won ($43 million) by conspiring with his brother.

The Seoul Central District Court also ordered the 43-year-old employee, identified only by his surname Jeon, to forfeit 32.3 billion won.

In the same ruling, the court sentenced the employee's younger brother, who is not a bank employee, to 10 years in prison for conspiring in the embezzlement.

"The nature of the defendant's crime is heavy, as he embezzled more than 61.4 billion won while working at Woori Bank," the court said in the ruling, adding his crime caused damage to the company's credibility.

The two were indicted in May on charges of embezzlement, violation of law on flight of domestic property and forgery of documents.

Most of the stolen money was found to be from a 57.8 billion-won contract deposit that Woori Bank has to return to Iran's largest consumer electronics maker, Entekhab Industrial Group, in connection with a failed acquisition deal.

The court, however, did not allow the prosecutions' request to indict on an additional embezzled amount of 9.32 billion won, saying an arraignment does not specify the method of the crime. (Yonhap)