Anti-Corruption Commission Uncovers Public Institution Overpaying Billions in Personnel Expenses

A public institution was found to have inflated its personnel expenses by several hundred billion won and distributed the excess funds to its employees.

Yoo Cheolhwan, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, is speaking at the Government Complex Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On November 6, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it had detected quasi-governmental organization A violating government guidelines regarding personnel expenses and had referred the case to the supervisory authority.

Organization A was found to have excessively allocated a total of 599.5 billion won in personnel expenses from 2016 to 2023 and paid this amount to employees of different ranks under the pretext of wage increases.

According to relevant regulations, such as the budget management guidelines for public enterprises and quasi-governmental organizations, when determining personnel expenses for level 4 to 6 employees at Organization A, the salary for the existing rank must be applied even if there are vacancies in higher positions. However, Organization A reportedly inflated personnel expenses by applying the salary of levels 4 and 5 to employees in levels 5 and 6.

Last year, the Public Institution Management Committee ordered that the 144.3 billion won in excess personnel expenses allocated by Organization A for 2023 be deducted from future personnel expenses. Subsequently, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission confirmed that a total of 455.2 billion won in personnel expenses had been overestimated from 2016 to 2022 and referred the case to the supervisory authority.

Yoo Cheolhwan, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, stated, "In order for public institutions to earn public trust, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate such cases so that they do not occur."