Jeonnam Police Uncover Mass Corruption Involving 57 Education Officials Including Bribery Cases

Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] Public officials affiliated with the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education were massively caught on charges of bribery and violation of the Anti-Graft Act.

On the 5th, the Intelligent Crime Investigation Unit of the Jeonnam Police Agency referred 12 public officials from the Provincial Office of Education to the prosecution on charges of bribery and violation of the Anti-Graft Act, and imposed fines on 45 officials who received holiday gifts for violating the Anti-Graft Act, notifying the Office of Education.

In addition, two company representatives were sent without detention on charges of fraudulently supplying roller screens worth approximately 2.8 billion won to 62 schools, and 10 brokers and business operators who provided bribes for solicitation purposes were sent without detention on charges of mediation and bribery.

The indicted education officials are known to have received bribes or holiday gifts from brokers and business operators in charge of construction work at frontline schools in Jeonnam.

This case began in earnest after the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education received a tip-off about corruption related to roller screen supplies to frontline schools in July 2018, conducted an internal audit, and reported the supplier representatives to the police on November 8 of the same year.

According to the results of this police investigation, the Office of Education plans to prepare and implement a purchasing system improvement plan to eradicate the practice of preferential treatment of specific companies and three-party unit price contracts, which are private contracts, in order to prevent corruption in purchasing goods and facility construction, starting from last September.

Also, when purchasing goods worth more than 10 million won, a goods selection committee will be held to ensure transparency and fairness.

In particular, strong measures will be promoted to realize clean Jeonnam education, such as operating a Clean Citizen Auditor and strengthening integrity education. From next year, an external expert ‘Citizen Supervision Group’ for construction work will be operated to secure fairness and transparency through objective external inspections and to eliminate poor construction and corruption factors during the construction process.

Superintendent Jang Seok-woong said in a press release on the day, “We reflect on ourselves with a determination to cut to the bone,” and “We will take this incident as an opportunity to root out corruption and prepare high-intensity countermeasures to make this year the inaugural year of the Jeonnam Office of Education’s leap toward integrity.”

He added, “We plan to accelerate the creation of a culture of integrity by establishing thorough measures to prevent recurrence,” and “Employees involved were transferred to lower positions upon notification of the investigation commencement, and disciplinary action was requested according to the investigation status. Regardless of rank, strict punishment will be imposed based on the trial results.”

Furthermore, he said, “The original intention of requesting this investigation was to foster a culture of integrity, but we apologize for causing concern to residents, the education community, and the majority of public officials who are diligently performing their duties.”

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