Korea Petroleum Management Service Receives Government Commendation for Preventing Government Financial Leakage

Son Ju-seok, Chairman of the Korea Petroleum Management Service
Photo by Korea Petroleum Management Service

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Korea Petroleum Management Service announced on the 14th that it received a commendation from the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy for its contribution to preventing government financial leakage.

This achievement is the result of efforts over the past two years to prevent fraudulent claims of fuel subsidies and to increase transparency in the petroleum distribution market.

The Korea Petroleum Management Service is a public institution responsible for quality and distribution management of petroleum, petroleum substitute fuels, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It holds authority to inspect gas stations for counterfeit petroleum sales and acts that disrupt distribution order.

According to the Petroleum Management Service, last year, in collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, local governments, and investigative agencies, it inspected 496 gas stations suspected of conspiring in fraudulent claims of fuel subsidies for freight trucks and identified 196 establishments actually involved.

Thanks to this, the Petroleum Management Service was able to contribute to preventing subsidy financial leakage.

The freight truck fuel subsidy is a system that refunds part of the fuel tax to small-scale freight truck owners. As of 2018, it amounted to approximately 1.8 trillion won annually.

The problem was that some gas stations and recipients conspired to make false payments, resulting in frequent cases of fraudulent subsidy claims.

In response, the Petroleum Management Service signed a "Memorandum of Understanding for Establishing a Collaborative System to Prevent Fraudulent Claims of Freight Truck Fuel Subsidies" with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and local governments, which have authority to crack down on fraudulent subsidy claims.

Since 2018, strong inspections have been conducted on gas stations and freight truck owners suspected of conspiring in fraudulent subsidy claims.

Son Juseok, Chairman of the Korea Petroleum Management Service, said, "This award will be a great encouragement to the employees who quietly fulfilled their duties over the past year," adding, "If the Service's capabilities are needed, we will work to protect the public interest without distinguishing between 'your work' and 'my work.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.