Employee's Child Acts as Examiner, Manipulates COVID Texts for Sick Leave... Persistent Mismanagement in Public Institutions

Board of Audit and Inspection audits 155 agencies... Uncovering irregularities such as favoritism toward retirees and excessive performance bonuses
Ministry of Economy and Finance also faces budget management failures... Unable to track or recover reserve funds of affiliated institutions

It has been revealed that 'insider favoritism' behaviors such as taking care of retirees from public institutions, excessive payment of performance bonuses, and indirect support for labor unions are still not eradicated. While operating national qualification exams, family members such as employees' spouses or minor children were regularly appointed as examiners, receiving allowances totaling 4 billion KRW, and there were also ongoing cases of public service discipline breaches, such as manipulating COVID-19 positive test messages to use sick leave.

On the 20th, the Board of Audit and Inspection disclosed an audit report titled 'Management Status of Funded and Invested Institutions.' The audit was based on materials submitted from October last year from 155 funded and invested institutions, including the status of fund settlements, budget, and personnel operations. On-site audits were conducted at 18 institutions, including the Korea Environment Corporation.

According to the audit results, the Human Resources Development Service of Korea involved employees' spouses and minor children in the appointment process of exam supervisors and other examiners for national technical qualification testing, paying them allowances amounting to 4 billion KRW. Additionally, the Environment Corporation signed contracts with corporations established by retirees, setting retirees' labor costs higher than legal standards, resulting in excessive payments of 7.1 billion KRW. Furthermore, institutions under the Economic and Social Research Council (GyeongSaYeon) excessively paid 15.6 billion KRW in efficiency performance bonuses by reducing expected revenues.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Besides cases of mismanagement, issues were also found in public service discipline. Nine employees left their remote work locations without permission to use golf courses, and there were cases of manipulating COVID-19 positive test messages to use sick leave. It was also uncovered that team leaders or higher-ranking employees involved in drunk driving were not disciplined. Thirty-eight employees of one institution embezzled travel expenses through false business trips.

The problem also included poor management by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which manages the budget. The Ministry was unaware of the reserve funds held by funded institutions and thus failed to reflect them in budget planning. It neglected financial management by leaving public institution funds that should have been recovered unmanaged, causing expenditures to deviate from their originally intended purposes. Specifically, funded institutions accumulated 210 billion KRW in surplus funds for unnecessary purposes over a long period, but the Ministry did not know this and did not utilize these funds in budget planning such as subsidies. The Ministry also failed to devise a plan to recover 174 billion KRW in public institution support funds that should have been returned, resulting in only 83.1 billion KRW being returned, with 59.1 billion KRW of the returned amount donated to a specific corporation.

The Board of Audit and Inspection stated, "Numerous cases of wasteful budget use due to mismanagement, poor project management, and separate fund operations by public institutions were confirmed, and the financial authorities responsible for management and supervision were unable to even grasp the actual situation, limiting efficient financial operation and management." They added, "Strict measures such as disciplinary actions were demanded for illegal and improper cases, and institutional improvement tasks regarding subsidies and the management system of funded institutions were also suggested."

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