Last Year, Subsidy Fraud Approached 70 Billion Won... Record High

Last year, the amount of subsidy fraud reached a record high, approaching 70 billion KRW.

On the 15th, Kim Yoon-sang, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, held the 5th Fiscal Execution Inspection Meeting and announced the results of the subsidy fraud inspection for last year.

The government used the Fraud Suspicion Detection System (SFDS) of the integrated national subsidy management system "e-Naradoom" to extract and inspect 7,521 suspicious subsidy projects executed from the second half of 2022 to the first half of last year, detecting fraud in 493 cases amounting to 69.98 billion KRW.

Compared to 2022 (260 cases, 9.81 billion KRW), the number of cases increased by 89%, and the amount nearly increased sevenfold. This is the largest scale since the operation of the e-Naradoom Fraud Suspicion Detection System began in August 2018.

The detected cases can be further verified by the relevant ministries through the Fraud Reception Review Committee or police investigations if necessary. Once fraud is confirmed, sanctions such as subsidy recovery, penalty imposition, exclusion from project execution, and public disclosure of names will be enforced.

The government stated, "This achievement is the result of significantly expanding the extraction of suspicious subsidy projects last year and strengthening joint on-site inspections by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other ministries." This year, they plan to extract 8,000 suspicious projects for broader inspection. They also plan to greatly enhance joint on-site inspections, especially expanding inspections during the first half of the year when subsidy project settlements are concentrated.

Additionally, pilot support will be provided for projects identified by ministries and local governments requesting joint on-site inspections, and a self-inspection manual for subsidy fraud will be distributed along with training for responsible personnel next month.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said, "The subsidy fraud inspection is a measure to implement the Yoon Seok-yeol administration’s national agenda of 'checking and improving blind spots in fiscal soundness monitoring.' We will thoroughly track, detect, recover, and impose sanctions to ensure that not a single won of subsidy is wasted."