Board of Audit and Inspection: "Public Officials Negligent in Imposing Fines on Real Estate Real-Name Act Violators"

Board of Audit and Inspection Releases Results of Local Government Spot Checks... Issues Found in Improper Hiring of Public Officials and Supervision

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] Negligence in imposing fines on violators of the Real Name Real Estate Act, resulting in missed opportunities to impose fines, along with negligence and poor management by local governments, were revealed through the Board of Audit and Inspection's 'mobile inspection.'

The Board of Audit and Inspection disclosed the results of the mobile inspection of local governments on the 23rd. This mobile inspection was conducted from June 15 to July 21 of last year.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, Seoul's Seocho-gu and Jongno-gu, and Gyeonggi-do's Namyangju-si and Pocheon-si were found to have lost opportunities to impose fines due to issues such as handover problems with successors and failure to carry out fine imposition duties related to violators of the Real Name Real Estate Act.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Additionally, in Chungcheongbuk-do's Chungju-si and Gyeonggi-do's Osan-si, cases were detected where, despite receiving notifications of real estate name-trust violation allegations from the tax office, the information was not forwarded to the responsible department, resulting in missed fine imposition periods.

In Chungcheongbuk-do, cases were found where relatives of public officials unfairly hired on fixed-term contracts were converted to public service positions.

Korea Railroad Corporation revealed issues in managing business tenants within railway stations. The Board of Audit and Inspection requested investigations into the CEO of a company that won a lease contract through bid rigging on charges of bid interference and demanded that the president of Korea Railroad Corporation take measures to prevent recurrence of such problems.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education showed problems in the special hiring process for dismissed teachers.

The Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out, "When a superintendent specially hires educational public officials, unfair acts such as pre-selecting candidates and conducting the hiring process favorably for those candidates must not occur."

The Board of Audit and Inspection demanded that the Minister of Education strictly caution the Seoul Metropolitan Superintendent of Education for improperly handling hiring duties, including instructing the special hiring of specific individuals as educational public officials. They also requested disciplinary action against Mr. A, a member of the secretariat who unfairly selected screening committee members.