"Spent '2.2 Billion' on Golf Memberships with Budget, Executives Monopolize"…Various Cases in Public Institutions

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Investigates Golf and Condo Membership Usage Among Major Public Office-Related Organizations

Golf course landscape (not directly related to the article content.)

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Seon-hee] It has been revealed that a domestic public service-related organization purchased golf memberships worth 2.2 billion KRW using institutional budgets and allowed only certain executives to use them. Although the memberships were purchased under the pretext of business promotion, there was no management or verification of their usage status.

In another institution, a personal hotel fitness membership worth 26 million KRW was purchased and registered under a specific executive as the user. The annual membership fee of about 4 million KRW to maintain the membership was also paid every year from the institution's budget.

On the 7th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that a survey on the usage of golf and condo memberships among 164 major public service-related organizations nationwide confirmed numerous cases of improper financial support. Among the surveyed institutions, 113 held condo memberships worth a total of 195.4 billion KRW, 13 institutions purchased golf memberships worth a total of 26.7 billion KRW, and 2 institutions held hotel fitness memberships worth a total of 42 million KRW.

Many improper cases were detected, such as providing golf and condo memberships purchased with institutional budgets as preferential treatment exclusively to certain executives, including usage by employees’ siblings, spouses, parents, and even retirees.

There were also discriminatory acts where regular employees could freely use condo memberships, but non-regular employees were allowed to use them for only one night. Additionally, cases were uncovered where employees recorded days they used condo memberships as business trips instead of vacations, thereby receiving additional support for lodging, transportation, and meals.

Accordingly, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission recommended that 1,376 public service-related organizations sell excessive or unnecessary golf and condo memberships. Even if they are retained out of necessity, regulations prohibiting preferential treatment for executives or retirees and banning unfair discrimination against non-regular employees were recommended to be established. Furthermore, to ensure transparency in membership usage, it was advised to establish grounds for managing membership usage procedures and records.

An Seong-wook, Secretary General of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, stated, "Through this institutional improvement, it is expected that the memberships held by public service-related organizations will be adjusted to meet the public’s expectations, and the use of memberships will become fairer and more transparent."