[2020 National Audit] Polytech Pays Allowances Through Accounting Tricks... Selected as Excellent Institution by False Management Evaluation

Im I-ja: "Ministry of Employment and Labor Must Prepare Alternatives to Prevent Recurrence"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] It has been revealed that Korea Polytechnic University, facing a budget shortfall for long-service allowances for faculty and staff, executed payments from the Employment Insurance Fund through accounting tricks and falsified management performance reports to be selected as an excellent management evaluation institution.

According to data submitted by Polytechnic to Lim Eui-ja, the senior member of the People Power Party on the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee, on the 12th, when additional labor costs arose due to a wage peak system lawsuit in 2018, Polytechnic covered 97.5 million KRW of long-service allowances for faculty and staff from the Employment Insurance Fund, which was not supposed to be used for this purpose.

By regulation, long-service allowances for faculty and staff cannot be paid from the Employment Insurance Fund, and any remaining funds must be returned to the Minister of Employment and Labor. However, Polytechnic paid the long-service allowances to faculty and staff, and when the budget became insufficient, it arbitrarily changed only the accounting system and slyly executed the shortfall from the Employment Insurance Fund.

Meanwhile, while preparing the management performance report, Polytechnic deliberately omitted some night lecture fees from the calculation because the total labor cost increase rate from 2015 to 2017 exceeded the government standard. Although the Ministry of Employment and Labor conducts annual management performance inspections, it failed to detect this fact. As a result, the affiliated institution was evaluated as complying with government standards in the management evaluation, and in 2015, it received a perfect score on the total labor cost increase rate indicator, upgrading the management evaluation grade from "Good" to "Excellent."

Rep. Lim said, "Polytechnic violated the budget formulation guidelines for public enterprises and quasi-governmental institutions through accounting tricks, and such misconduct in a public institution that must comply with integrity obligations is a serious situation," adding, "The Ministry of Employment and Labor should prepare measures to prevent recurrence through strengthened anti-corruption and integrity education and further strengthen the inspection of management performance reports of affiliated institutions, which are being falsified."

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