Suspicion of Privatization in Maintenance... SR CEO Lee Jong-guk Says "It's Not Privatization"

Lee Jong-guk, CEO of SR, denied allegations of privatizing vehicle maintenance services, stating, "There are no plans for privatization."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 17th, during the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's audit, Lee responded to Rep. Heo Young of the Democratic Party's accusation that "vehicle maintenance services might be privatized to Hyundai Rotem" by saying, "That is absolutely not the case."

When Rep. Heo pointed out, "Did you not award a 500 billion KRW consignment project for maintenance services to Hyundai Rotem, which could have been contracted with multiple companies?" Lee replied, "I did not award that; the contract was made through a bidding process."

Rep. Heo addressed Park Ji-hong, Director of the Railway Bureau at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who was present at the audit, saying, "The bidding conducted by SR, following the guidelines of the high-speed train safety management and rapid response plan announced by the Ministry 10 months ago, was awarded to Hyundai Rotem and is now under investigation. Isn't competitive bidding by public institutions the principle?"

Meanwhile, according to Rep. Heo Jong-sik of the Democratic Party, the police are investigating SR employees and related personnel as suspects over allegations of corruption in the process of the 3rd generation high-speed rail vehicle project ordered by SR.

The police are investigating whether any illegal activities occurred during the bidding process for the approximately 1 trillion KRW order placed by SR in April this year, which included 112 units of the new high-speed train EMU-320 (distributed power high-speed rail) worth 525.5 billion KRW and vehicle maintenance services worth 475 billion KRW. SR had selected Hyundai Rotem as the expected successful bidder for this project.

During the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee audit held that day, SR CEO Lee Jong-guk apologized regarding the police investigation, saying, "As the head of the institution, I apologize for the unfortunate incident," and added, "I will submit related materials to the National Assembly as long as it does not violate the National Assembly Act or the Personal Information Protection Act."

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