Comprehensive Forestry Project Fund... 'Blind Money' Due to Administrative Convenience-Style Post-Management

Over the Past Decade, 736.6 Billion KRW Budget Executed for Comprehensive Forestry Project Funds
Group A, Which Claimed to Inspect 133 Sites in One Day, Falsely Reported Without Actual Field Survey
1,157 Cases (41%) Conducted in Bulk at Year-End Dec

[Goheung=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Kim Seung-nam, member of the National Assembly (Jeonnam Goheung·Boseong·Jangheung·Gangjin), pointed out on the 12th during the National Audit of the Korea Forest Cooperatives Federation that the post-management of the Comprehensive Forest Project Fund, which receives massive budget support, is insufficient and requires thorough inspection.

The Comprehensive Forest Project Fund is a policy loan that provides long-term, low-interest policy financing to foresters and producer organizations intending to carry out forest projects.

The loan issuance and management of the Comprehensive Fund are handled by the Korea Forest Cooperatives Federation and regional forest cooperatives.

Over the past 10 years, a budget of 736.6 billion KRW has been spent solely on the Comprehensive Forest Project Fund.

Given that it is a policy loan involving a huge budget, strict post-management is necessary.

The Korea Forest Cooperatives Federation has been conducting an annual management status survey and reporting the results to the Korea Forest Service by January 30 of the following year as a method of post-management.

According to the '2020 Comprehensive Forest Project Fund Management Status Survey (over 50 million KRW)' submitted by the Korea Forest Service, it is recorded that a total of 69 cooperatives conducted status surveys on 2,841 loan cases.

However, a report from Forest Cooperative A claiming to have conducted investigations on 133 loan cases (business sites) in a single day on December 23 last year was found to be false, and among the 69 cooperatives, 34 cooperatives reported investigating more than 10 loan cases in one day.

The management status survey items include ▲loan usage details ▲performance compared to business plans ▲current business status ▲future business outlook ▲status of collateral ▲problems and countermeasures, but since on-site inspections are not mandatory according to execution guidelines, there are concerns about lax post-management due to the 'rush inspections' by forest cooperative staff.

Moreover, among the 2,841 management status surveys conducted last year, 1,157 cases (40.7%) were concentrated in December, leading to a surge of 'showcase-style and administrative convenience' inspections just before the reporting deadline to the Korea Forest Service.

Assemblyman Kim Seung-nam said, “Forest cooperatives should be restricted from conducting management status surveys all at once in a single day for administrative convenience or rushing inspections in December at year-end,” and added, “The Korea Forest Service and the Korea Forest Cooperatives Federation need to recognize the problems in the post-management of the Comprehensive Forest Project Fund and strive to improve the system.”

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