Mokpo A Private School Caught Embezzling School Funds and Diverting Payroll

Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] A private school foundation in Mokpo, Jeonnam, was caught embezzling school funds and diverting personnel expenses through falsehoods during a special audit by the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education.

According to the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education on the 20th, after receiving a complaint about private school foundation A, which operates middle and high schools in Mokpo, a special investigation was conducted from the 23rd of last month to the 1st of this month, confirming embezzlement of school funds and improper accounting practices.

The detected school foundation, A Academy, diverted income from educational basic property generated through store usage fees and rental fees into a separate account instead of incorporating it into the school fund accounting. Additionally, they fabricated documents claiming to have hired daily workers falsely, embezzling a total of 309.84 million KRW over five years.

Furthermore, it was found that the night duty security guard’s working hours were arbitrarily changed, instructing them to perform facility management tasks such as weeding and leak repairs during the daytime, interfering with their primary duties.

Moreover, it was revealed that 100.52 million KRW for the salary of a housekeeper and heating oil expenses for the official residence, which should have been borne personally by the former chairman, were improperly spent from the school fund accounting.

During the investigation, all related parties lamented, “We could not go against the instructions of the late former chairman.”

Through this investigation, the Office of Education requested the dismissal of two administrative directors under A Academy involved in the corruption and severe disciplinary action for five administrative staff members. The administrative directors will also be reported to judicial authorities later.

Considering that the current chairman is currently on trial for embezzling 83.26 million KRW through false daily labor employment, necessary measures such as cancellation of executive appointment approval will be taken depending on the trial outcome.

In response, the private school foundation expressed plans to improve the confirmed illegal matters, and the Office of Education plans to establish recurrence prevention measures, including a comprehensive inspection of the foundation’s basic property, not ending with this simple corruption detection.

Audit Officer Kim Sung-in stated, “The basic property of private school foundations will be re-verified through a comprehensive audit,” adding, “Some private schools are autonomously managed, which leads to a lax sense of public responsibility.”

He continued, “To sound an alarm against private school corruption, we urged strict disciplinary actions against those involved in corrupt acts within the respective school foundations,” and added, “We hope this action will serve as a heavy warning across private schools, and going forward, we will show no leniency toward corrupt private schools and apply strict standards according to the law.”

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