[2020 National Audit] Election Commission Uses Corporate Cards at Dawn and Weekends... Suspected False Entries Too

People Power Party Rep. Park Su-young: "Used wastefully like petty cash"

Park Soo-young, member of the United Future Party./Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] The National Election Commission was found to have used business promotion expenses under the pretext of work consultations during early morning hours and weekends. There are also allegations of false entries, such as recording the use of the same corporate card in Seoul, Cheonan, and other locations at two-minute intervals.

On the 12th, Park Soo-young, a member of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee from the People Power Party, announced that after receiving and analyzing detailed records of business promotion expenses from the National Election Commission executives from 2016 to September 2020, these findings were confirmed. This is the first time the details of the Commission’s business promotion expenses have been disclosed.

According to Representative Park, over the past five years, executives such as the Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, and department heads of the National Election Commission used business promotion expenses more than 1,000 times (approximately 370 million KRW) during late-night hours, weekends, holidays, and outside their official workplaces. Out of 2,911 cases of business promotion expense usage (totaling 630 million KRW), about one-third were used in violation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s guidelines.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s budget and fund operation plan execution guidelines, usage is only permitted if the necessity can be proven in cases such as ▲legal holidays and Saturdays and Sundays ▲regions unrelated to the official workplace ▲abnormal hours (such as late-night hours after 11 PM) ▲usage in businesses primarily selling alcoholic beverages for work purposes. Essentially, the guidelines encourage restraint in usage.

However, the National Election Commission recorded over 1,000 cases and more than 300 million KRW spent outside the official workplace. The number of cases used on holidays and weekends totaled 191, amounting to about 38 million KRW. Cases used between 10 PM and 8 AM reached 129, totaling approximately 27.48 million KRW.

The number of times business promotion expenses exceeded 500,000 KRW per case was 155, totaling about 103 million KRW. There was even a case where up to 2.19 million KRW was used at once. Cases exceeding 1 million KRW numbered 38.

The problem is that the guidelines require the affiliation and name of the recipient to be recorded when expenses exceed 500,000 KRW per case, but this was not followed. Representative Park pointed out, "The recipients were recorded very unclearly, and in 28 cases, they were not recorded at all."

There are also allegations of false entries. The detailed records show that a senior official of the National Election Commission used a card at 1:26 AM at a restaurant in Seocho-gu, Seoul, under the pretext of a "committee major work explanation and cooperation request work consultation meeting," but the office confirmed that the restaurant only operates until 10 PM.

There are also cases where the same card was recorded as being used simultaneously in different regions at intervals of about 30 minutes. Representative Park criticized, "Payments were made at 1:09 PM in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, at 1:22 PM in Cheonan, Chungnam, and at 1:24 PM in Seocho, Seoul, all with the same card," adding, "This shows overall negligence due to lax usage and poor management."

Representative Park stated, "In particular, there is no set limit on the business promotion expense cards for standing committee members, the Secretary-General, and the Deputy Secretary-General," and emphasized, "Detailed guidelines and reform measures must be established to correct the lax management."

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