Kim Ikang, Gwangju Seo-gu Mayor, "Applying Zero Tolerance Principle to Subsidy Fraud"

Published 25 Mar.2024 13:19(KST)

Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Kim Ikang) announced on the 25th that it will take a strong stance of zero tolerance against any fraudulent cases detected in various subsidy projects funded by taxpayers' money.

Seogu District Office exterior. [Photo by Seogu]

Seo-gu confirmed that during the 2020-2022 local government-led youth job projects organized by Seo-gu Office, individuals A and B, who were supposed to act as mentors, did not actually provide mentoring but submitted 14 false reports and received 2.1 million KRW in activity allowances. Consequently, a request for investigation was made to the Seobu Police Station in June of last year.

In relation to this, the Gwangju District Court on the 22nd sentenced them to a fine of 4 million KRW for violations of the Act on the Management of Subsidies and fraud charges.

Mayor Kim Ikang of Seo-gu said, “We will continue to take a strong zero-tolerance approach against cases that abuse various subsidy projects supporting youth startups and jobs as if they were 'blind money' and receive improper benefits. We will thoroughly verify and supervise from the selection of project participants to the process and results to ensure that budgets supporting the dreams and futures of young people are used appropriately.”