Lee Jae-myung's 'Paper Company Bidding Pre-Inspection System' Results... Investigation Requested for Winning Companies

[Asia Economy (Uijeongbu) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has identified companies that created 'paper companies' (companies existing only on paper) solely to win construction contracts and participated in bids, and has requested a police investigation.

On the 26th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it detected paper company A, which committed illegal acts such as lacking technical personnel and lending national certificates, through a 'preliminary crackdown,' and took strong measures including administrative sanctions and police investigation requests.

Last month, company A participated in a local road pavement repair construction bid worth 390 million won issued by Gyeonggi Province and won the contract as the first-ranked bidder. However, Gyeonggi Province conducted a preliminary crackdown on paper companies by inspecting documents and on-site checks to verify whether the top three companies, including A, met construction business registration standards such as capital, office, and technical personnel, and found evidence suggesting that A was a paper company.

Company A held five specialized construction licenses on paper, requiring at least 10 full-time technical workers, but all technical workers were confirmed to be part-time workers working 20 hours per week, failing to meet the criteria.

Additionally, although part-time workers on employment contracts were listed as holding national technical certificates such as excavator operator, welding technician, and construction technology career certificates, there was no record of them working at company A, raising suspicion of certificate lending.

Violations of the Minimum Wage Act and the Labor Standards Act were also revealed.

Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province excluded company A from the bid, imposed a six-month business suspension, and notified Yeoncheon County, the registration authority, of the violations.

A police investigation was requested regarding the suspicion of lending national technical certificates.

Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, emphasized, "This is the first case leading to a police investigation for the certificate lending suspicion, which has been regarded as a chronic corruption in the construction industry," adding, "This investigation request marks the beginning of establishing fair trade order throughout the construction industry, and we will continue to lead efforts to prevent substandard companies from gaining a foothold at construction sites and create an environment where sound companies can win bids."

Since October last year, Gyeonggi Province has been implementing a preliminary crackdown system on paper companies during bids for construction projects by the province and its affiliated public institutions to eradicate paper companies.

This system deprives bidding opportunities from construction companies that fail to meet construction business registration standards such as capital, office, and technical personnel by verifying documents and on-site inspections for companies that qualify for eligibility screening among bidders.

Gyeonggi Province receives reports of unfair construction trade practices, including paper companies, through the public interest reporting hotline 'Fair Gyeonggi 2580.' If administrative sanctions are taken based on the reports, whistleblowers can receive rewards of up to 200 million won.

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