Gyeonggi Economic Science Institute and Next-Generation Convergence Technology Institute Caught for 20 Cases of Improper Work Handling

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 8th that it conducted the '2023 2nd Comprehensive Audit of Public Institutions' from October 4 to 20 last year on the Gyeonggi-do Economic Science Promotion Agency and the Next Generation Convergence Technology Institute, uncovering 7 cases of improper business handling at the Gyeonggi-do Economic Science Promotion Agency and 13 cases at the Next Generation Convergence Technology Institute.

The Gyeonggi-do Economic Science Promotion Agency was found to have improperly handled lease contract tasks by failing to conduct a rights analysis and review the trust register for the property during the process of signing a 6.7 billion KRW lease contract for a knowledge industry center with Company A while promoting the Gyeonggi Northern Venture Center project in Yangju City in 2015.

Later, during the lease contract extension negotiations in 2021, the agency terminated the lease contract knowing that Company A was unable to repay part of the lease deposit (1.5 billion KRW), but has yet to recover the full lease deposit of 6.7 billion KRW, and is currently pursuing a lawsuit to claim the guarantee debt.

Gyeonggi Province requested an investigation into the team leader responsible for improperly handling the lease contract tasks at the time, issued a warning to the Gyeonggi-do Economic Science Promotion Agency, and took personnel disciplinary actions against related Gyeonggi Province officials who neglected supervision and guidance.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

In addition to the Gyeonggi-do Economic Science Promotion Agency, it was revealed that the Human Resources and General Affairs Team altered the decisions made by the disciplinary committee and applied them, leading to demands for disciplinary actions against those who improperly handled the tasks.

The Next Generation Convergence Technology Institute, which underwent a comprehensive audit for the first time in four years since 2019, received administrative demands for 13 cases, personnel disciplinary demands for 4 individuals, and was notified to recover 247,000 KRW in financial matters.

The audit confirmed that the Next Generation Convergence Technology Institute improperly handled contract tasks by selecting a bidder who did not meet the participation qualifications specified in the bidding announcement when purchasing research equipment, and by signing construction contracts with unregistered construction contractors.

Additionally, it was revealed that Director B of the institute approved a private contract with a corporation where he served as vice chairman without declaring a conflict of interest, violating the employee code of conduct.

Other violations and improper business handling included receiving travel expenses improperly after external business trips due to concurrent positions and improper payment of research activity expenses for internally supported research projects.

Lee Hee-wan, the Chief Auditor of Gyeonggi Province, explained, "Considering that this audit was a regularly conducted comprehensive audit, we inspected the overall operations of the two institutions."

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