KRW 680 Billion with Confirmed Misuse of KRW 31.4 Billion
All National Subsidies Registered in Management System 'e-Naradoom'
President Yoon Suk-yeol received a report on the audit results of government subsidies to private organizations on the 5th and instructed, "Thoroughly punish and recover funds related to subsidy corruption," according to spokesperson Lee Do-woon.
The government plans to hold a meeting of audit officers from all ministries on the 7th to discuss follow-up measures such as recovering subsidies, filing complaints and requesting investigations, improving systems including rewards, restructuring subsidy budgets, and additional audit plans related to cases of fraudulent receipt of subsidies by private organizations.
According to the Presidential Office, a unification movement organization that received national subsidies by conducting lectures on the regime resignation movement, calling it a "National Hero Discovery Project," was exposed, revealing a total of 1.1 trillion won worth of projects with 1,865 cases of fraud and corruption.
This is the result of a comprehensive audit conducted over four months from January this year under the coordination of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, targeting about 12,000 private organizations across 29 ministries regarding government subsidy projects.
Looking into the fraud and misconduct cases found in this audit, unification movement organization A received 62.6 million won under the pretext of discovering buried national heroes and conducted political lectures such as "Social Agreement to Presidential Candidates" and "Diagnosis and Prescription of Government Dysfunction 100 Days after Yoon Suk-yeol Administration's Inauguration." The content included plans to launch a movement to oust the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. This organization paid manuscript fees nearly three times the limit to individuals who were not even the original authors.
Unification family-related organization D spent 5.41 million won on purchasing mobile phones for former executives, unpaid communication bills, and communication expenses used by current executives' family members while promoting family reunion exchange projects. It also misappropriated 15 million won for renting office space in China owned by a company owned by an executive.
During the previous administration, as job support projects expanded excessively and organizations conducting job projects faced difficulties recruiting beneficiaries, cases were uncovered where unqualified individuals such as already employed persons, entrepreneurs, or those already receiving other job support funds were selected, and documents were falsified to make it appear as if payments were made to unemployed individuals.
The government will take strong legal actions such as recovering subsidies, criminal prosecution, and requesting investigations. Based on the results of this investigation, it plans to fundamentally block fraud and corruption, establish a new subsidy system to enhance transparency in subsidies to private organizations, and promote strong institutional improvements including significantly strengthening management and supervision.
In particular, not only the primary recipient organizations that received government subsidies but also subordinate organizations that executed the budget through consignment and re-consignment will all be registered in the government subsidy management system "e-Naradoom." Accounting documents, settlement reports, and various evidences will be thoroughly registered, inspected, and transparently disclosed.
Additionally, the scope of accounting firm audits will be expanded from projects over 1 billion won to those over 300 million won as part of institutional improvements. Furthermore, there is a plan to reduce subsidies by more than 500 billion won next year and to implement structural adjustments over four years.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
