Gwangju City Confirms 4 Transactions Involving Public Officials in 'Sanjeong District Public Official Speculation Allegations'

Chairman Lee Gap-jae of the Audit Committee Announces Results of 402 Investigations in Sanjeong District Out of Over 4,000 Cases

Confirmed Purchases Made 4 to 15 Years Before Site Selection Began in July 2020

Gwangju Metropolitan City Audit Committee Chairman Lee Gap-jae is announcing the investigation results on allegations of public officials' speculation in the Sanjeong District of Gwangju, included in the '3rd New Housing Site Supply' development plan announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on February 4, at the city hall briefing room on the afternoon of the 15th. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Gwangju Metropolitan City Audit Committee announced the results of an investigation into allegations of public officials' speculation on land in the Sanjeong district, included in the development plan announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on February 4th as part of the '3rd New Housing Site Supply Plan,' on the 15th.

This investigation targeted the entire areas of Sanjeong-dong and Jangsu-dong, including the Sanjeong district, over the past five years from 2016 to the present. By checking real estate transaction records through the land information system, a total of about 4,000 transactions were confirmed, of which 402 were in the Sanjeong district.

Regarding the 402 transactions in the Sanjeong district, an examination was conducted on public officials related to the work, their spouses, direct ascendants and descendants, and former public officials of the city and Gwangsan-gu. It was found that two public officials unrelated to the work (one from Gwangju City and one from Gwangsan-gu) conducted a total of four land transactions.

Among them, a city hall employee (3 cases) sold land (field 407㎡) purchased in June 2005 for 50 million KRW and land (field 83㎡) purchased in June 2016 for 18 million KRW to secure an access road to this land, for 155 million KRW in August 2018.

A Gwangsan-gu employee (1 case) sold land (rice paddy 740㎡) purchased in September 2013 for 53.52 million KRW for 68 million KRW in February 2017.

This was confirmed to have been purchased about 4 to 15 years before the new housing site supply plan announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in February or before LH started selecting the location of the Sanjeong district in July 2020, and has already been sold.

Also, after collecting personal information and consent, no transactions were found among the spouses and direct ascendants and descendants (71 people) of 17 related public officials.

Lee Gap-jae, chairman of the city audit committee, said, “Although this investigation was limited to the Sanjeong district, we plan to continue verifying the remaining approximately 3,600 transactions conducted around the district.”

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