Jeju International Convention Center, Corruption Confirmed in Provincial Audit Committee's Special Audit

41 Issues Highlighted Including Unfair Personnel Evaluations and Hiring Corruption

Two Senior Officials Placed on Personnel Standby for Workplace Harassment

Seogwipo Police Station Expected to Complete Hiring Corruption Investigation This Month

Jeju International Convention Center exterior view.

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won] The Jeju Provincial Audit Committee pointed out 41 issues during the audit of the Jeju International Convention Center.

Following our report titled 'Jeju International Convention Center deceived the National Assembly and Jeju Provincial Council Audit Committee' (October 21, 2021), the Jeju Provincial Council requested an audit, and the Provincial Audit Committee conducted a special audit of the center from December last year until last month.

The center was suspected of comprehensive corruption including recruitment irregularities last year, illegal private contracts worth over 10 billion KRW, workplace harassment, illegal receipt of employment retention subsidies, and misuse of corporate credit cards.

According to the audit summary transcript obtained by this newspaper, most of the previously raised suspicions were pointed out in this special audit, and the Provincial Audit Committee issued confirmation letters for a total of 41 audit findings.

The audit results confirmed the center’s non-cooperation during the audit, with some documents missing or altered.

Unfairness in personnel evaluations and arbitrary modifications of employee evaluations that could not be corrected were found, and the private use of company vehicles by the center’s CEO and executives was also pointed out.

Issues regarding recruitment fairness were also raised.

During the recruitment process, candidates with higher qualifications than the application requirements were rejected in the screening because the center claimed it could not adjust the salary accordingly, causing outrage among the audit participants. Additionally, recruitment documents that should have been kept for at least 10 years or permanently were missing.

There were numerous cases where contracts between the center and service providers ignored regulations and procedures.

Although the contract department was unified, the MICE Planning Office made separate contracts, which were omitted from multi-year regular reports to the Audit Committee and the Provincial Council, raising suspicions of intentional omission.

Furthermore, private contracts requiring the president’s separate approval were carried out without approval, and contracts were unfairly awarded to specific companies, including contracts with unlicensed construction firms, and 113 cases were improperly split into private contracts.

A Provincial Audit Committee official stated, “Regarding the audit summary of the center, confirmation letters have been issued, and after submitting additional materials and a period for explanation, the results will be announced at the end of this month following deliberation. Therefore, specific audit details cannot be disclosed.”

Meanwhile, a complaint regarding workplace harassment at the center, filed with the Jeju Labor Improvement Guidance Center of the Gwangju Regional Employment and Labor Office, resulted last week in disciplinary action placing Director A and Director B on a one-month personnel suspension. If no appeal is filed within one week, the disciplinary action will be finalized.

Also, the investigation related to recruitment irregularities at the center, transferred from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission to the Seogwipo Police Station in June last year, is in its final stages, with results expected this month.

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.