[Exclusive] Controversy Over Conflict of Interest in Standing Committee: Jomunhee Now Suspected of 'Budget Misappropriation'

Office of Kim Du-kwan, Member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, Democratic Party of Korea, points out 'conflict of interest' involving Assemblyman Jo
Company where Assemblyman Jo is a major shareholder demands several hundred million won increase in water resource project budget... actual execution also took place
Controversy over quid pro quo raised as Assemblyman Jo asked a party colleague and sent sponsorship funds
Jo Myeong-hee: "Forcibly linking this is 'reverse discrimination'... No orders received from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Jo Myung-hee, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the People Power Party, who is already embroiled in a 'conflict of interest' controversy due to his committee activities related to his duties, has now faced concerns of 'conflict of interest' regarding the budget as well. During the National Assembly budget formulation process, a multi-billion won increase was requested for a specific project of a company in which Rep. Jo holds a large amount of stock, and this increase was actually reflected. It was confirmed that Rep. Jo also sent several million won in political donations to fellow party members who requested the budget increase, raising suspicions of quid pro quo. However, Rep. Jo denied these allegations, stating that he did not benefit from the increased project budget and that the donations were made due to personal friendship, calling it an unreasonable 'political attack.'

According to data obtained on the 22nd by Rep. Kim Doo-kwan of the Democratic Party from the Ministry of Environment, among the detailed water resource informatization projects over the past five years, the budget for the 'National Water Resource Management Integrated Information System Maintenance' project increased by 50 million won this year. While the budget was 230 million won in 2020 and 2021 respectively, this year's project budget rose significantly to 730 million won.

The lawmakers who requested the budget increase for this project were Lee Jong-bae, Lee Man-hee, and Jung Hee-yong, all from the same party. Lee Jong-bae, who was the chairman of the Budget and Accounts Special Committee at the time, requested a 700 million won increase from the Ministry of Environment in November last year during the Budget and Accounts Special Committee meeting, citing the need to improve security vulnerabilities of app-based services and various location-based function enhancements to expand public water resource services. Rep. Jung Hee-yong, also an alumnus of Kyungpook National University like Rep. Jo, and Lee Man-hee, the committee's secretary, submitted written inquiries with the same content at the same meeting.

According to the meeting minutes, the Ministry of Environment responded to the inquiries from these three lawmakers by explaining that "the National Water Resource Management Integrated Information System collects, processes, and analyzes various water resource-related information by individual watersheds and local governments," and that "it is necessary to improve the system by reorganizing the provision method of probabilistic rainfall and flood data based on electronic maps so that users can query based on location." Subsequently, although not the full 700 million won, 500 million won was actually added to the budget.

The problem is that this project is operated by 'GeoCNI,' a company where Rep. Jo is a major shareholder. GeoCNI is a geographic information system specialized company established by Rep. Jo in 2003, where he also served as CEO, and he holds 4.6 billion won worth of stock in the company. In 2020, Rep. Jo's large stock holdings in this company raised conflict of interest concerns, leading to his committee assignment being changed from the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee to the Health and Welfare Committee.

As Rep. Jo, who has already sparked conflict of interest controversies simply by committee assignments and inquiry activities, is now suspected of extending his influence to the budget itself, the conflict of interest controversy is expected to intensify.

Rep. Kim's office is also focusing on the fact that Rep. Jo sent 5 million won in political donations to Rep. Lee Jong-bae. According to Rep. Jo's income and expenditure records from last year, he sent 5 million won in donations to Rep. Lee, who requested the budget increase, on December 28 of the same year, shortly after the regular National Assembly session. Rep. Kim's office explained that since Rep. Jo could not directly increase the budget for projects related to himself, he asked fellow party members to request the government for budget increases and showed goodwill through political donations.

In a phone interview with Asia Economy, Rep. Jo strongly denied the allegations, saying, "I have never received any orders related to water resources from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. This is a clear case of reverse discrimination." He added, "Neither I nor my company benefited from the increased project budget. I have lived as an expert in the water resource field all my life and even received a government commendation, but since becoming a member of the National Assembly, the opposition party has been persistently raising this issue, which is unreasonable." He called it an "unreasonable political attack" and said, "The political donation to Rep. Lee was simply because he mentioned in private that he had not fulfilled his donation quota by the end of the year, so I helped him. The claim of quid pro quo is nonsense."

Rep. Lee Jong-bae also said in a phone interview on the same day, "It is true that I requested the budget increase (on behalf of the office)," but added, "As the chairman of the Budget and Accounts Committee, I received many budget requests from other organizations, so I have no knowledge of whether I submitted written inquiries regarding the water resource informatization project." When asked if he was aware of any connection between Rep. Jo and the project, he replied, "I did not know." Regarding the 5 million won political donation from Rep. Jo, he emphasized that it was a donation based on friendship and "there was absolutely no quid pro quo."