Civic groups, illegal use of subsidies exceeds 20 billion… “The tip of the iceberg”
As a result of the government’s audit of government subsidies paid to non-profit private organizations for three years from 2020 to 2022, it was investigated that more than 20 billion won of government subsidies were used illegally. This audit was led by the Office for Government Policy Coordination (Prime Minister’s Office) and conducted from January to April together with the Inspector’s Office of 29 central administrative agencies.
According to the Office for Government Policy Coordination, some ministries confirmed subsidy rebates and illicit receipt of subsidies by private organizations, and requested an investigation on charges of embezzlement토토사이트, fraud, and subsidy law violations. The Office for Government Policy Coordination plans to report these results to President Yoon Seok-yeol at a cabinet meeting at the end of this month at the earliest. A high-ranking government official said in a phone call with the JoongAng Ilbo on the 18th, “The amount currently confirmed as a result of a short-term investigation is the tip of the iceberg.”
‘Strengthening the transparency of government subsidies to private organizations’ is a national task of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. In particular, this audit began on December 27 last year with a special order from President Yoon. At the cabinet meeting at the time, President Yoon said, “The state subsidies to private organizations have increased rapidly over the past few years, but government management has been insufficient and it is questionable whether they have properly looked into the use of accounting.” If it is used, the people will not tolerate it. There is no sanctuary where blood tax is spent,” he emphasized.
Lee Gwan-seop, senior secretary for state affairs planning, is announcing the current status of non-profit private organization subsidies and future investigation plans in a briefing room the day after President Yoon Seok-yeol’s order to investigate subsidies to private organizations in December of last year. news 1
According to data released by the President’s Office at the time, government subsidies paid to private organizations over the five years of the Moon Jae-in administration increased by an average of 400 billion won annually, from 3.56 trillion won in 2016 to 5.45 trillion won in 2022. On the other hand, 153 problematic projects were discovered by all ministries during the same period, and only 3.4 billion won was returned. After President Yoon’s instructions, Bang Bang-kyu, head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, held a series of meetings with auditors of central administrative agencies and encouraged “all-out audits using all capabilities.”
Some predict that based on the results of this audit, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which is in its second year in office, will accelerate the reform of civic groups. In the first year of power, if labor reform was put forward through ‘transparency in union accounting’, this time, civic group reform can be put forward at the forefront of state affairs through ‘transparency in government subsidies’.
The government will also come up with countermeasures. First of all, we are reviewing a plan to reduce subsidies by reflecting details of illegal subsidies in next year’s budget, and lowering the standard for accounting audit exemption of 1 billion won under the current subsidy law to 300 million won. In addition, when a higher-level operator who has received a subsidy provides services to a lower-level operator, the problem of the lower-level operator being omitted from the subsidy management system will also be improved.