Court Dismisses Bank of Korea's National Compensation Claim Over Integrated Annex Construction Delay

The Bank of Korea filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming damages due to delays in the construction of the integrated annex, but the court dismissed the case.

The 27th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Son Seung-on) ruled on the 14th that the plaintiff lost in the damages claim lawsuit filed by the Bank of Korea against the state.

Bank of Korea New Integrated Annex
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, the Bank of Korea planned to move into the integrated annex to commemorate its 70th anniversary in 2020. Accordingly, the Public Procurement Service announced a bid for the construction of the Bank of Korea integrated annex in July 2017, and Gyeryong Construction was selected as the contractor. However, Samsung C&T protested to the Dispute Mediation Committee, claiming that despite bidding 58.9 billion KRW lower, it was ranked second.

Subsequently, controversy arose as allegations of bid-rigging by Gyeryong Construction surfaced during a prosecution investigation. During the investigation, it was confirmed that an official from the Public Procurement Service received bribes from Gyeryong Construction. The official was sentenced to prison last year.

Nevertheless, Gyeryong Construction, which succeeded in the bid, proceeded with the annex construction in November 2019, but due to delays caused by bid-rigging allegations, the Bank of Korea was only able to move in three years later than originally planned. The Bank of Korea claimed damages, including the unavoidable leasing of part of the Samsung Main Building due to the delayed move-in, and filed a 500 million KRW lawsuit against the state in February last year but lost in the first trial.

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