Yeongdeungpo-gu, May 27 Reported to Yeongdeungpo Police Station for Verification of Remaining False Claims and Embezzlement of Funds
[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Choi Ho-kwon) announced that on April 26, it recovered a total of 13,849,844 KRW from a contractor of the community treatment center confirmed to have submitted false work records, and on May 27, it filed a complaint with the Yeongdeungpo Police Station to verify other false claims and embezzlement of funds.
On the 28th, YTN reported under the headline "Government funds of 8.3 million KRW per person for COVID-19 labor costs... only half paid?" that Mr. A, who worked for about three months at the Yeongdeungpo-gu community treatment center, claimed that the contractor billed Yeongdeungpo-gu more money than what was actually paid to the workers.
Mr. A received 3.72 million KRW including taxes in January, but the contractor billed Yeongdeungpo-gu about 91 million KRW for one month’s labor costs for 11 people, which amounts to about 8.3 million KRW per person, showing a difference of about 4 million KRW compared to the actual payment, the report stated.
The contractor explained that although the amount was billed as labor costs, it included wages, welfare expenses, and bonuses.
However, there are testimonies that documents were fabricated to claim costs from the local government as if people who had quit were still working, or that employees who worked only at the end of the month were recorded as having worked the entire month to receive money.
Accordingly, as signs of poor management of labor costs paid from government funds have been repeatedly confirmed, calls for a swift investigation are gaining momentum, the report said.
In response, Yeongdeungpo-gu Office issued a statement on the 28th, stating that Company A, which was contracted to operate the “Seoul Special City Yeongdeungpo-gu Community Treatment Center Support Service” from January 1 to May 7 this year, recovered a total of 13,849,844 KRW on April 26 for false work records.
Accordingly, Company A was the operator of the Yeongdeungpo-gu community treatment center during the 7th local government term (Mayor Chae Hyun-il), prior to the current 8th term.
Additionally, on May 27, the office filed a complaint with Yeongdeungpo Police Station to verify ▲ false claims and embezzlement of service fees through deception ▲ discrepancies between payment records and actual payments.
The district office added that if false claims and embezzlement are confirmed based on the police investigation results, it plans to take measures such as recovery according to relevant laws.
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