Jeju International Convention Center, Suspicions of Inadequate Service and Card Splitting in Expo Report

Claims That a Company Never Visiting During the Expo Period Secured a Sole-Source Contract for the Final Report

Final Report Written by Jeju International Convention Center Staff Identical to External Service Report

CEO Suspected of Splitting Card Payments at High-End Restaurant... Paid Off Outstanding Debts in Bulk After Investigation Began

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won] The Jeju International Convention Center (hereinafter referred to as the Center) is facing allegations of hiring irregularities, followed by claims that the 2019 6th Industry Jeju International Expo result report was unfairly contracted to a company, and that the content of the result report is identical to one written by an employee.

According to whistleblower A on the 19th, “After the 6th Industry Jeju International Expo ended, some budget remained, and the management designated a specific company and instructed to contract with this company to prepare the result report.”

However, it is claimed that this company never visited the expo during the period it was held.

Furthermore, A stated, “Since the contract for the result report service was made after the expo ended, the company that prepared the report could not have attended the expo period,” and “When asked to show the document written by the Center staff to write a report they had not seen, I handed over the file.”

The two documents provided by the whistleblower were the external result report document commissioned for the service, differing only in the order of photos and text, and were found to be almost identical to the result report created by the Center.

Additionally, A raised suspicions of collusion with management, saying, “I recall the service contract was about 7 million won, but I wonder if the plagiarized document is worth that amount and how the service fee was circulated.”

The representative of company B, which prepared the result report, said, “The contract was made according to procedure, I don’t remember the contract amount, but I provided a service worth that much, and I don’t understand why I am being questioned like this,” then hung up the phone. Multiple attempts to call back were unsuccessful.

Regarding the poor service of the 6th Industry result report, Hong, the Center’s Planning Director, stated, “The employee’s writing was a draft. We gave the draft to the company and asked them to write it,” and “I cannot disclose the contract timing or amount for the result report.”

In addition, suspicions were raised about abnormal splitting use of the Center’s corporate card.

It is claimed that payments were split multiple times using the Center’s corporate card at a high-end beef specialty restaurant.

On September 30, 2020, the Center’s representative made three payments totaling 1.3 million won in one day at K Restaurant, a high-end beef specialty restaurant located in Nohyeong-dong, and after the investigation began, paid an outstanding credit of about 1.5 million won.

The Center organized the ‘2019 6th Industry Jeju International Expo’ from October 12 to 14, 2019, for three days, forming an organizing committee with Jeju Province and the 6th Industry Jeju International Expo Organizing Committee to hold the event.

According to the whistleblower, on September 30, 2020, the Center’s representative paid 1.3 million won in three installments at the high-end beef specialty restaurant K in Jeju City for ‘Discussion on COVID-19 response measures and industry meeting related to new events,’ ‘COVID-19 countermeasure meeting and planning for new expo,’ and ‘6th Industry Jeju International Expo - Spot video shooting site operation expenses.’

Moreover, payments were made at the restaurant under various meeting categories, and even several times for the Center’s ‘Personnel Committee operation expense payments.’

To verify the facts, K Restaurant was contacted, and a representative said, “The Center’s representative is a regular customer of our restaurant,” and “There is an outstanding credit of about 1.5 million won, and they often dine with guests, but we do not know who the guests are.”

Meanwhile, attempted multiple calls to the Center’s representative, but the calls were not answered, and there was no response to text messages.

After the investigation began, the Center’s representative paid the outstanding credit of about 1.5 million won.

The Center explained, “The three payments on September 30, 2020, were lump payments for events held on September 12, 18, and 26,” but when asked further about corporate card usage regulations and legality, they refused to answer, saying, “Let’s stop.”

Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won captain@asiae.co.kr

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