Investigation Committee on Saho and Daesang Park Plans to Extend Activities to Clarify Suspicions

The Special Committee for Administrative Investigation on the Private Park Development Special Case Project for Sahwa and Daesang Parks under the Changwon City Council in Gyeongnam is expected to extend its activities.

At the second briefing held on the 28th at the Changwon City Hall Press Center, the administrative investigation special committee stated, "During the course of nine meetings, we analyzed 8,688 pages of submitted documents, received two reports from related departments, and conducted three witness interrogations to present the investigation results."

They emphasized the announcement made last year by the City Audit Office, which stated that during the tenure of the previous mayor, the Sahwa and Daesang Park project granted preferential treatment exempting the private developer from the obligation to purchase public land, causing financial losses to Changwon City.

"Regarding the purchase of public land, we confirmed through testimonies from the public officials responsible for the project at the time, two rounds of questions and answers with officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, one business trip report from the Ministry, and negotiations on public land purchase during the first main negotiation team and the first and second working negotiation meetings for Sahwa Park," they said.

"The officials in charge at the time testified that it was legally correct to purchase the entire area including national and public land, and the section chief at the time also testified that the city-owned land purchase was consistently requested during negotiations," they added.

"The CEO of the Daesang Park Development Project Group also testified that although the project plan initially included purchasing public land, they simply followed the Changwon mayor's directive in 2019 to proceed without purchasing public land," they stated, adding, "Based on this, we judged that the public land should be legally purchased."

The Special Committee on Administrative Affairs Investigation for the Private Park Development Special Project at Sahwa and Daesang Parks of Changwon City Council, Gyeongnam, is making the second announcement related to the administrative affairs investigation.
[Photo by Lee Seryeong]

Furthermore, regarding the financial losses incurred by Changwon City due to the private developer not purchasing the public land, they said the land must be reappraised to confirm the exact amount.

The special committee explained, "The loss amount of 105.1 billion KRW announced by the auditor is based on December 2020, and the 63 billion KRW stated by the private developer was appraised in June 2019. Once the decision on whether to purchase the public land is finalized, land compensation appraisal according to relevant laws should be conducted again to determine the precise loss amount."

They also added that it is necessary to extend the special committee's activities, currently scheduled until the end of March, to verify the total project cost.

Suspicions related to preferential treatment of the private developer, such as non-purchase of public land, changes in profitability and revenue, and return of developer profits, will be referred for investigation.

Witnesses deemed to have committed perjury will be reported, and fines will be considered for seven witnesses who did not appear.

The special committee plans to hold its 10th meeting around March 5 to propose extending the committee's activities and re-requesting attendance from absent witnesses, and will submit these agendas to the city council plenary session held eight days later for final decision.

No special committee members affiliated with the Democratic Party attended the announcement by the investigation special committee that day.

Democratic Party special committee members rebutted through a press release, stating, "It was a unilateral announcement by the People Power Party members of the special committee without discussion or resolution."

"The People Power Party special committee members announced suspicions of preferential treatment, but nothing was clearly revealed during the witness interrogations," they claimed.

The members pointed out, "There is no explicit legal provision requiring the purchase of all public land, so it cannot be considered illegal, and concluding based on some witnesses' opinions as if it were the result of legal review is a logical leap."

"At the time, the project department submitted a plan for non-purchase of public land to the mayor to seek a directive, but the non-purchase was not decided by the mayor's directive. Suspicion of preferential treatment such as developer profitability should await the investigation results of the key officials involved," they said.

They added, "Reports related to the special committee decided without convening meetings cannot be recognized as official announcements."

People Power Party special committee members responded, "We notified the announcement content and schedule in advance and asked for any objections until the evening before the announcement, but received no response, so the announcement was confirmed. After confirmation, we received opposing messages, but since we sufficiently notified and waited for opinions before deciding, this is an official special committee announcement."