[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has detected companies that fraudulently received and used research and development (R&D) funds and decided to permanently exclude them from support projects.
On the 10th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it plans to file a police complaint against Mr. B, the CEO of wireless communication equipment manufacturer Company A, on charges of fraud and obstruction of business by deception. In addition, the province decided to take administrative measures to permanently bar Company A and Mr. B from participating in various Gyeonggi Province support projects.
According to the province, Company A submitted 14 projects to eight domestic institutions and received a total of 936 million KRW in support. Among these, three institutions in the province provided 108 million KRW in support for five projects, including startup projects, one-person creative enterprise support projects, and Technology Doctor programs. However, after a report was filed with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission in August last year and an investigation was conducted, it was revealed that Company A fraudulently received and used R&D funds through false registration of researchers and duplicate submission of supporting documents.
Accordingly, the province has recovered the entire amount of 108 million KRW in improperly received funds.
The province explained that, especially following the enforcement of the Public Finance Recovery Act in January this year, penalties of up to five times the amount of misused research funds and disclosure of the names of companies and research supervisors were considered, but this case occurred before the law was enacted, so these measures could not be applied.
The reason such fraudulent support due to duplicate applications is possible is that local government support projects lack an integrated management program, and even when trying to check for duplication with government ministry-supported projects, only completed projects can be searched or access is not possible at all.
Therefore, the province has requested that local government projects be included in the government-wide Research Cost Management System (RCMS) and is also building its own corporate support management system.
A provincial official emphasized, "Following Governor Lee Jae-myung’s policy that 'scammers will never be tolerated,' we applied a one-strike-out rule along with criminal charges," adding, "Based on the 'Technology Development Project Improvement Plan' prepared in January this year, we will enhance the transparency and fairness of R&D support projects and fundamentally block misuse of project funds."
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