Board of Audit and Inspection Issues Warning for Inadequate Audit on 'Working Hours Manipulation Report' at Jeju Audit Committee

Audit Results Published on the Board of Audit and Inspection Website

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Chang-won] The Jeju Provincial Audit Committee, which is investigating allegations of work hour manipulation by employees of the Jeju International Convention Center, has received a 'caution' disposition from the Board of Audit and Inspection.

On the 24th, the Board of Audit and Inspection publicly disclosed on its website the audit results ordering disciplinary action against two individuals involved in manipulating work hours at the center.

The report of the Jeju Provincial Audit Committee's inadequate audit and the work hour manipulation at the Jeju International Convention Center (hereafter the Center) was submitted to the Board of Audit and Inspection in March of last year.

The report claimed that it was inappropriate for the Jeju Provincial Audit Committee to transfer the case back to the Center for internal handling without taking special measures, despite confirming the misconduct of Manager A in manipulating work hours and the involvement of Manager B in charge of administration.

The Board of Audit and Inspection conducted an audit at the Center over five days from October 25 to 29 of the same year with three auditors.

During the audit, the Jeju Provincial Audit Committee confirmed that Manager A's fingerprint records for clocking in and out were missing, yet the manual attendance ledger showed more working days than other employees. The auditor also verified through CCTV footage of clock-in and clock-out times that the times were falsified to claim more working hours.

However, the Jeju Provincial Audit Committee, upon receiving this report, concluded the case without ordering further investigation into the inaccurately recorded facts, citing that the Center could correct the issue internally, and transferred the case back to the Center.

The audit results revealed that Manager A was recognized for 868 hours (47%) out of 1,846 hours of work time in 2020 without any official fieldwork orders or fingerprint clock-in/out records, yet received wages and overtime pay for these hours.

As a result, the Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out the failure to take measures such as reducing wages for the unjustly recognized working hours.

Regarding the caution disposition from the Board of Audit and Inspection, a Jeju Provincial Audit Committee official stated, “The CCTV footage quality was poor at the time, making it difficult to identify specific individuals,” and added, “Since the Center employees who worked together could easily distinguish the individuals, we closed the case early and transferred the results to the Center.”

Meanwhile, the Jeju International Convention Center labor union stated, “The Provincial Audit Committee, which should conduct audits fairly and justly, is failing to fulfill its role,” and urged the Jeju Provincial Audit Committee to perform its proper autonomous audit functions, saying, “As revealed in last year's report (Jeju International Convention Center deceived the National Assembly and Jeju Provincial Council Audit Committee as well, 2021.10.21), this is why they omit and falsify reports even in regular audit reports.”

Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Chang-won captain@asiae.co.kr