The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Yoo In-chon) will recover the subsidies paid to the Korea Badminton Association (Chairman Kim Taek-gyu) through the Korea Sports Council (Chairman Ki-heung Lee) and impose additional sanctions.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the final results of the Badminton Association’s investigation at 10 a.m. on the 31st in the briefing room on the second floor of the government building annex in Seoul.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism formed an investigation team on the 12th of the same month and began the investigation following an interview with Ahn Se-young, a badminton gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, on August 5th. The results came out after about two months.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism divides and promotes improvement tasks drawn based on the survey results into 5 areas and 26 issues.
Among the five areas, the biggest issues are violations of the Subsidy Act, initiation of procedures to recover the violation amount, and requests for investigation.
Lee Jeong-woo, director of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who heads the investigation team, said, “In accordance with the Subsidy Act, we plan to recover subsidies and impose additional sanctions for violations by the Badminton Association, such as the promotion league and youth club league business, and the payment of fees to the management companies of association executives.” .
According to Director Lee, the responsibility for return lies with the Korea Sports Council. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requested submission of opinions from the Sports Council on the 30th. After submitting opinions, the refund amount and additional sanctions will be confirmed after deliberation by the Subsidy Illegal Provision Committee.
Next, Director Lee said, “According to Article 22 of the Subsidy Act, it cannot be used for purposes other than purposes. According to Article 32, it can be canceled, and according to Article 33, it can be recovered. In Article 33-2, additional sanctions can be imposed and collected. The additional sanctions can be collected. “It is 200-300% of the refund, and if you add the subsidy refund and the imposition of additional sanctions, there is about KRW 7.8 billion for youth and KRW 800 million for payback,” he added.
In addition, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requested the dismissal of Chairman Kim Taek-gyu, who is directly responsible for violating the Subsidy Act. The Secretary General is severely punished.
Director Lee said, “If disciplinary action is not taken, we will request the Sports Association to designate a management group for the Badminton Association. Upon designation as a management group, all executives will be dismissed. We will discuss dispatching management staff.”
In addition, the presentation on this day explained areas such as ▲ reflecting players’ opinions as much as possible, innovating old practices and expanding support ▲ improving unreasonable systems, guaranteeing players’ rights and interests ▲ correcting inappropriate operations, notifying tax authorities ▲ reporting workplace bullying to relevant agencies.
At the end of the presentation, Director Lee said, “If this is not accepted, we will consider reducing the budget. This is not just for the Badminton Association. This is a lax management that is widespread in other associations as well. “We plan to organize and dispatch them,” he said.
Director Lee emphasized the system.
“We plan to complete the system before conducting a full investigation. No matter who is the sports president or who is in charge of administration, we will ensure that it is operated fairly according to the system.”
When asked about the concerns of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the letter from FIFA, General Manager Lee said, “I know this. We are looking at whether it is being executed transparently according to the budget and whether it has complied with its own regulations.” “He explained.
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