[2021 National Audit] Ministry of Industry, R&D Misuse Funds of 68 Billion KRW Over 10 Years... Recovery Rate Only 66%

Yang Geum-hee, People Power Party Lawmaker: "If Misuse of Blind Money Is Revealed, It Must Be Recovered to the End"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] It has been revealed that government-affiliated institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have recovered only 66% of the amount decided to be reclaimed due to fraudulent use of research and development (R&D) funds over the past 10 years. There are calls for thorough recovery whenever fraudulent use is detected to prevent government R&D subsidies from becoming "blind money."

According to data on 'R&D Fraudulent Use Recovery Decision Amount and Recovery Amount' submitted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to Rep. Yang Geumhee of the People Power Party on the 5th, the total amount decided to be reclaimed due to fraudulent use of R&D funds from 2011 to August this year was 67.954 billion KRW, of which only 45.2 billion KRW (a recovery rate of 66%) has been recovered.

Among the amounts decided for recovery due to fraudulent use, 57.1% (38.8 billion KRW) were detected by external agencies such as the Board of Audit and Inspection, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, and investigative agencies. Self-detection by dedicated agencies directly managing R&D fund support accounted for about 42.9%.

By type of fraudulent use (based on number of cases), the most common was use for purposes other than R&D at 45.4%. This was followed by false and duplicate documentation (20.5%), misuse of labor costs (18.5%), and collusion with supplying companies (6.4%).

The case with the largest recovery decision amount was the July 2014 project by the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation Institute titled 'Development of Bioenergy Production Technology Using Palm Oil Industry By-products.' It was revealed that a small and medium-sized enterprise that received the research service misappropriated project funds under the pretext of purchasing research materials, resulting in a recovery decision of 4.62 billion KRW, but only 107 million KRW was actually recovered.

There were also cases where none of the misused funds were recovered. One such case was the January 2020 project by the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation Institute titled 'Development of a Floating Offshore Wind Power Pilot Plant (750 kW class) for Medium Depth.' After a corruption report from a small and medium-sized enterprise, an on-site investigation confirmed misuse of labor costs, leading to a recovery decision of 3.35 billion KRW, but so far, no amount has been recovered.

Rep. Yang Geumhee emphasized, "It is problematic that the recovery rate compared to the recovery decision amount remains low despite the passage of much time," adding, "The relevant authorities must clearly demonstrate that they will prevent and manage fraudulent use of R&D funds and, when such misuse is revealed, recover the funds fully within a short period to ensure that public money does not become blind money."

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