46 People at Hwasun Self-Support Center Punished for Embezzling 2.9 Billion Won by Falsifying Disabled Care Service Provision

Jeonnam Hwasun Police Station Exterior

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Employees of the Hwasun-gun Self-Sufficiency Center in Jeonnam and caregivers have been criminally prosecuted for embezzling 2.9 billion won in government subsidies by falsely claiming to provide care services for disabled persons.

On the 9th, the Hwasun Police Station in Jeonnam announced that it had sent 46 people, including officials from the Hwasun-gun Self-Sufficiency Center and caregivers, to the prosecution on charges of fraud, embezzlement in the course of duty, and violation of the National Subsidy Act.

Among them, two individuals who led the crime, General Affairs Team Leader A (38) and Disability Support Team Leader B (55), were sent to prosecution in custody.

They are accused of embezzling about 2.9 billion won in government subsidies by fabricating work records as if they had provided home care services for disabled persons from January 2017 to December 31 of last year, without actually providing such services.

The method of entering work hours involved caregivers scanning the disabled persons’ electronic voucher cards on portable terminals at the start and end of care services, but they exploited the fact that location information did not appear during this process.

They were found to have collected electronic vouchers from disabled persons and arbitrarily entered work hours into the terminals, manipulating work hours from 4 to 8 hours at a time.

A, who led this operation, collected all caregivers’ salary bankbooks and took about half of the falsely recorded care wages when they were paid.

Center employees and caregivers deceived disabled persons with reduced cognitive abilities by saying, “This is an order from the county office” or “This is the usual procedure” to collect electronic vouchers.

It was also revealed that Hwasun-gun, responsible for management and supervision, dispatched a public official as the head of the Self-Sufficiency Center but failed to properly oversee these activities.

The police plan to investigate whether there are other criminal charges related to the Self-Sufficiency Center’s projects.

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