Seodaemun-gu "Multiple Violations Including Improper Payment of District Council Members' Allowances"

Announcement of Comprehensive Audit Results... "No Justification for Boycotting Supplementary Budget Review"
Severe Criticism of District Council as "A Thief Feeling Guilty"

Exterior view of Seodaemun-gu Council Complex Building (Photo by Seodaemun-gu)

Seodaemun-gu District Office in Seoul announced on the 18th that it has uncovered 30 cases of multiple violations, including improper payment of council members' allowances, following a comprehensive audit of the District Council Secretariat.

In a statement released that day, Seodaemun-gu revealed the results of a comprehensive audit conducted from June 26 to July 31 on the overall operations of the District Council Secretariat. The statement strongly criticized the council, saying, "Criticism is likely to arise that, like the saying 'a thief feels guilty,' the council tried to block the district office's audit of the Secretariat by holding the supplementary budget review hostage."

Regarding council members' allowances, Seodaemun-gu explained that numerous improper cases violating regulations were found, including ▲ payment of allowances before or during business trips ▲ payment of accommodation and car fare without supporting documents ▲ duplicate payment of accommodation fees despite receiving support for employee recreational facility usage fees ▲ payment of accommodation fees for an extra night beyond the business trip period.

In this regard, the audit officer of Seodaemun-gu requested the Personnel Committee to impose light disciplinary actions on public officials who handled tasks improperly and to issue warnings for minor violations. The District Council Secretariat was also issued an institutional warning and administrative caution. Additionally, about 1.6 million KRW was reclaimed for six cases, including the 'improper payment of allowances,' and thorough measures were ordered to prevent recurrence of the 'improper payment of domestic allowances to council members.'

Seodaemun-gu also revealed that the comprehensive audit uncovered violations such as ▲ improper use and management of corporate cards by the District Council Secretariat ▲ negligence in reporting corporate card usage details ▲ non-compliance with budget execution authority standards ▲ improper expenditure of common council operation expenses ▲ use of council operation business promotion funds for purposes other than intended.

Meanwhile, after some district council members were fined by the court in April this year for misappropriation of training expenses, Seodaemun-gu conducted an audit of the District Council Secretariat as a measure to prevent recurrence. In response, council members affiliated with the Democratic Party stated that "the District Council Secretariat is not an institution under Seodaemun-gu Office and therefore is not subject to the district office's audit, and they will withhold supplementary budget review until the illegal audit is withdrawn."

Seodaemun-gu pointed out, "Due to the indefinite suspension of the review of the Seodaemun-gu supplementary budget, amounting to about 61.4 billion KRW and including budgets for disaster recovery and basic pensions and child allowances, various inconveniences and difficulties for residents are expected." It added, "With the multiple violations of the District Council Secretariat revealed this time, the boycott of the supplementary budget review has rendered the justification put forward by the majority party in the council meaningless."

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