Fine Imposed on Public Official Who Accepted Bribe and Selected Supervisor in Gwangju Hakdong Disaster Case

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] It was belatedly revealed that a public official who received an illicit request and intervened in the selection process of a supervisor related to the 'Gwangju Hakdong Disaster' was fined.

According to the legal community on the 21st, the Gwangju District Court issued a summary order imposing a fine of 2 million won on employee A of the Dong-gu Office in Gwangju, who was prosecuted for violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

In December 2020, A was summarily indicted on charges of unfairly selecting Cha, the representative of an architectural office in Gwangju, as the supervisor for the demolition work in Hakdong 4 District, following a request from a former public official.

According to regulations, the selection of a supervisor must be done by Dong-gu, which holds the business permit, by randomly choosing from a list of related companies received from Gwangju City. However, Dong-gu selected Cha in a sequential order system.

After being designated as the supervisor, Cha never appeared at the site and was found to have not even reviewed the demolition plan.

Currently, A has been removed from the duties related to architectural permit supervision designation and reassigned to another department. Disciplinary procedures are expected to take place soon.

Meanwhile, on June 9, 2021, at around 4:22 p.m., a five-story building collapsed at the demolition site of the redevelopment project, crushing a city bus stopped at a platform, resulting in 9 deaths and 8 serious injuries.