Anti-Corruption Commission Inspects Business Promotion Expenses of 28 Local Councils
Improper Use of 2.5 Billion KRW Found in 27 Councils
Disciplinary Action and Recovery of Misused Budgets to Be Demanded
Lee Myung-soon, Vice Chair of the Anti-Corruption Division of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, is announcing the results of the local council code of conduct compliance inspection conducted last year at the major policy announcement briefing held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. Photo by Yonhap News
It has been revealed that local council members have misused council budgets by participating in marathon events hosted by external organizations or using bowling alleys for camaraderie among members. On the 23rd, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission inspected 1.5 years' worth (14.4 billion KRW) of business promotion expenses from 28 local councils between July 2022 and December 2023, finding that 27 councils had improperly used approximately 2.5 billion KRW. Except for one, most of the inspected councils misused their budgets.
According to the disclosed cases, local council members extensively used budgets for meals, leisure, and clothing. Cheonan City Council spent about 21 million KRW on 285 occasions from January 2022 to June last year for meals and other expenses under the name of supporting council negotiation groups, based solely on a single application form without specific details. Namyangju City Council improperly spent about 48 million KRW on 1,456 meal expenses from January 2021 to April last year by paying monthly bills to 6-7 local restaurants listed in their ledgers for council members' meals.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's directives, when local councils pay for meals for internal or external event attendees, supporting documents are required. However, it was confirmed that 27 local councils used meal expenses without objective supporting documents in a total of 13,740 cases (about 1.82 billion KRW). Gangwon Provincial Council used about 5 to 6 million KRW for meals at wedding hall banquet rooms for events such as council year-end parties but had no supporting documents for the expenditures.
Gunsan City Council and Wonju City Council paid individual participation fees to council members participating in marathons and walking events hosted by external organizations, respectively, and Suwon City Council used council budgets to cover bowling alley costs for members' social gatherings.
According to related regulations, when business promotion expenses exceed 500,000 KRW per case, documents proving the counterpart's affiliation, address, or name must be attached. However, 16 local councils executed 260 cases (250 million KRW) without such documentation.
There were also many unnecessary purchases of team uniforms. Typically, clothing expenses are provided to uniformed officials or field workers, but 10 local councils spent 160 million KRW on purchasing high-priced mountaineering brand jumpers under the pretexts of council training and sports events. In particular, Suwon City Council spent about 60 million KRW over six occasions from 2022 to 2023 for council training sessions held in the first and second halves of each year.
There were also cases of inappropriate use of domestic travel expenses. Five local councils were caught violating budget execution guidelines in 31 cases (190 million KRW) by improperly using domestic travel expenses for lodging and airfare during domestic training for local council members as common council operating expenses.
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission plans to forward cases requiring further verification to supervisory agencies and demand disciplinary actions against those involved and the recovery of improperly used budgets through institutional notifications for confirmed violations. Lee Myung-soon, Vice Chair of the Commission's Anti-Corruption Department, stated, "Recent comprehensive public institution integrity evaluations show that the integrity level of local councils is significantly lower compared to other institutions."
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