Government Survey Exposes Billions in Fraud in South Korea’s Renewable Energy Projects

2023-07-04 05:47:00

▲TV Chosun screen capture

As a result of a survey conducted by the South Korean government on all expenditures of the Electric Power Industry Fund (Electricity Fund) for renewable energy projects such as solar power projects that were intensively promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration, there were 5,359 cases. , 582.4 billion won (regarding 64.6 billion yen) of fraud was additionally exposed.

This is the result of a survey conducted by the National Affairs Coordination Office’s Joint Anti-Corruption Promotion Team on projects worth regarding 6 trillion won over the past five years. The first deputy director of the National Affairs Coordination Office, Park Gu-yong, who served as the leader of the delegation, announced on the 3rd..

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▲TV Chosun screen capture

As a result of a survey conducted by the South Korean government on all expenditures of the Electric Power Industry Fund (Electricity Fund) for renewable energy projects such as solar power projects that were intensively promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration, there were 5,359 cases. , 582.4 billion won (regarding 64.6 billion yen) of fraud was additionally exposed.

This is the result of a survey conducted by the National Affairs Coordination Office’s Joint Anti-Corruption Promotion Team on projects worth regarding 6 trillion won over the past five years. The first deputy director of the National Affairs Coordination Office, Park Ku-yong, who served as the leader of the delegation, made the announcement on the 3rd.

Including the 261.6 billion won in fraud found in a sample survey of 12 out of 226 municipalities in September last year, the series of frauds totals 844 billion won.

The project, which was confirmed to be illegal this time, was funded by the Electric Power Fund, which receives 3.7% of the electricity bill, and it seems that the people involved have embezzled hundreds of billions of won in taxes through various means.

Over the three years from 2019, a total of 3,010 fraud cases worth 489.8 billion won were exposed in financial support projects for renewable energy such as solar power. A case was found in which a false tax invoice was issued and the project cost for installing a solar power generation facility was overstated to receive excessive financing, or a facility for mushroom cultivation, insect breeding, etc. was constructed and received false financing.

It was confirmed that there were 1,937 cases of using padded tax invoices when receiving loans, canceling tax invoices following receiving loans, or reissuing tax invoices with reduced amounts, amounting to 308 billion won. rice field.

It seems that tax evasion has been confirmed because the borrower received an extra loan for the padded amount and under-reported to the tax authorities. Deputy Director Park pointed out that this was a “very bad example.”

In the five-year period from 2017, a total of 1,791 cases, worth 57.4 billion won, were found to have been fraudulent, even in projects that provide subsidies to areas around power plants.

There were 100 illegal or inappropriate cases, worth 23.2 billion won, such as receiving subsidies from local governments to purchase land that is not adjacent to roads, then abandoning it, and then selling it arbitrarily without the approval of local governments.

One community received a subsidy of 170 million won for communal farming, purchased forestland that was practically impossible to cultivate, and abandoned it.

In another village, following receiving a subsidy of 52 million won for a warehouse site, the head of a local resident group was caught for reselling the land without the approval of the local government without building a warehouse.

172 cases of illegal use of 26.6 billion won were found in research and development (R&D) projects in the electric power sector funded by the Electricity Fund.

Between 2018 and 2022, the Electric Power Fund itself also committed fraud worth 8.6 billion won in 386 cases, including non-compliance with a subsidiary of KEPCO’s retiree organization.

The government has decided to report 626 of the irregularities uncovered by the inspection to the prosecutor’s office, and to seek accountability for 85 cases. Regarding subsidies that have been illegally or unfairly supported, the government plans to set up a task force of related organizations to collect them.

Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon

Chosun Ilbo / Chosun Ilbo Japanese version

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