Wando-eup, Controversy Over Selection of LPG Pipeline Boiler Company

Village Chiefs' Collusion, Call Records and Transcripts Released... Police Investigation Inevitable
Free Boiler Installation and Scripted Boiler Company Voting Selection

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Kyung-pil] Controversy has arisen over allegations of collusion among village chiefs during the selection process of boiler companies related to the county-level LPG pipeline network support project underway in 19 villages of Wando-eup, Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do.

Recently, Village Chief A of Wando-eup disclosed a notarized transcript from a court reporting office containing recorded phone conversations from a meeting of 17 village chiefs held on March 6, prior to conducting a preference survey to select the LPG pipeline network boiler company.

The transcript reveals that Village Chief B, who led the meeting to select a specific boiler company D, discussed receiving a meeting allowance of 70,000 KRW per session from the boiler company and agreed to have boilers installed free of charge.

Although the selection of a boiler company should involve at least three representatives from each village, including village chiefs, heads of senior citizens’ associations, women’s associations, Saemaul leaders, and neighborhood chiefs, the transcript confirms that only village chiefs were allowed to attend under the pretext of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Notably, the village chiefs had prearranged the script for the boiler company preference survey vote held on March 10 during this meeting.

The transcript also shows their meticulous planning, such as sending a text message instructing each to pay 20,000 KRW for the lunch bill to leave evidence, anticipating questions about how the lunch expenses were settled during the March 6 lunch meeting.

Village Chief A, who released the transcript, stated, “The meeting on March 6 was announced in the village chiefs’ group chat, but it was not an official village chiefs’ meeting,” and added, “The village chiefs did not pay for the lunch.”

He explained the situation of that day’s meeting, saying, “Village Chief B, who led the meeting, has an acquaintance at company D and worked hard to arrange for the boiler company to provide boilers free of charge to the village chiefs. Those village chiefs who already have gas boilers were promised compensation in cash.”

Chief A said that some village chiefs protested during the March 10 boiler preference survey vote, saying, “Shouldn’t we investigate more thoroughly? Why are we passing the responsibility to the village chiefs?” but “they were ignored because the collusion to select a specific company had already been finalized.”

He lamented, “It’s disgraceful over a few hundred thousand won. Later, only the village chiefs get blamed,” and added, “I suggested selecting two or more boiler companies to give consumers, the residents, a choice, but the village chiefs who had already colluded did not listen.”

Chief A explained the reason for releasing the transcript, saying, “I think this is very wrong because this method of selecting boilers ultimately harms the consumers, the county residents.”

Meanwhile, the Korea LPG Pipeline Network Project Group sent an official notice on March 13 titled ‘Notice of Boiler Preference Survey Results during Wando-gun LPG Pipeline Facility Construction,’ announcing the results of the boiler preference survey conducted at the residents’ council meeting on March 10.

Additionally, the selected boiler company was requested to submit a maintenance plan for the gas boiler equipment to be installed in the future (including A/S service centers within Wando-eup, winter emergency dispatch services, call center operations, etc.) by March 31.

Accordingly, the company selected through the preference survey vote at the Wando-eup residents’ council meeting on March 10 signed a contract on the 10th of last month and has already placed an order for the priority contract volume covering 1,322 households.

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