The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Announces Findings on Overseas Trips by 243 Local Councils
18 Billion Won Misappropriated Through Airfare Manipulations…Proceeding with Recovery and Criminal Prosecution,
Yoo Cheol-hwan, chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, speaks at the 2024 second half advisory meeting at the Korea Press Center on the 11th. (Provided by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission) 2024.12.11/News1,
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, ‘(Seoul=News1) Reporter Lee Gi-rim = It was revealed that many local council overseas trips violated related regulations, using expenses for travel agents’ lecture fees and other means to cover expenses for tourism.’,
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, ‘The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission thoroughly investigated overseas trip practices by local councils between 2022 and May this year, involving 243 local councils, and confirmed these findings on the 16th.’,
,
, ‘Over the past three years, these 243 councils conducted 915 trips at a total expense of about 35.5 billion won. Including trips accompanied by local council members using municipal budgets, about 400 billion won was spent on 1,400 trips.’,
,
, ‘The investigation revealed 405 cases (44.2%) where airfares were manipulated, spending more budget than the actual cost.’,
,
, ‘Council A issued business-class tickets, submitted claims with these expenses, and later switched to economy class tickets for travel after canceling the business-class ones.’,
,
, ‘Council B directly forged parts of the airfare to claim a different amount than the actual cost. Such false expense claims could lead to criminal prosecution.’,
,
, ‘Additionally, excessive numbers of council staff were mobilized for protocol reasons, with some expenses being unjustly borne by council members or staff.’,
,
, ‘Council C involved 10 members on an overseas trip, with 7 staff traveling, and the members covered about 9 million won of the staff’s costs.’,
,
, ‘Such cases accounted for 117 instances (13%), representing acts that could be regarded as prohibited donations under election law.’,
,
, ‘Furthermore, council members purchased items like soju, snacks, hangover relief supplements, and nourishing supplements during official overseas trips.’,
,
, ‘Council D exceeded 2 million won in purchasing snacks like ramen and kimchi for trip purposes. Such purchase cases amounted to 178 instances (19.5%).’,
,
, ‘An analysis of the trips showed that many often followed predetermined tourist schedules.’,
,
, ‘Though 61 countries were visited, trips to 20 of these countries made up over 80% of visits, with Singapore seeing 94 trips, prominently including visits to Gardens by the Bay 74 times and URA City Gallery 73 times.’,
,
, ‘In the case of Council E, during a four-night, six-day trip to Australia, only tourist spots like Blue Mountains National Park and the Sydney Opera House were visited.’,
,
, ‘In 33 cases (3.6%), separate budgets were used for guide and entrance fees during tourist site visits, necessitating recoupment as these expenses did not align with public purposes.’,
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, ‘The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission attributed these unlawful and inappropriate overseas trips to ineffective functioning of the committee responsible for reviewing official overseas trips.’,
,
, ‘The review committee, although pointing out the frivolity of some itineraries, often approved the trips, with many cases involving members who might consider their relationships with peers and future personal trips, hence impacting fairness. Notably, 79 instances (8.63%) involved members reviewing their own trips.’,
,
, ‘Furthermore, enormous cancellation fees were noted. In one case involving Council F, no refund was obtained after a trip cancellation.’,
,
, ‘Given the discovered various illegal activities and false cost claims, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission plans to request investigations from relevant authorities.’,
,
, ‘Disciplinary actions, recovery, fines, or penalties will be communicated to relevant councils and municipalities, with monitoring of corrective measures.’,
,
, ‘The commission requested the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, responsible for the laws governing local councils, to propose improvements and intends to conduct spot checks on overseas trip practices next year.’,
,
, ‘Improvement measures include banning inspection-type trips with no specific organization visits or discussions, and making all review committee members external.’,
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, ‘Detailed itineraries and costs must be included in reviews, with unapproved expenses prohibited.’,
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, ‘Trip data on planning, review, and spending will be consolidated into a single overseas trip information system and posted on council websites to prevent fragmented information, thereby allowing for a single-stop overview.’,
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, ‘Yoo Cheol-hwan stated, “We will educate and promote the identified violations to help establish a proper culture in local councils based on the findings.”