Search and seizure of Jincheon Athletes’ Village over ‘suspicion of corruption in the Sports Council’ | Dong-A Ilbo

Suspicion of collusion in facility management KRW 7 billion contract process
A full-scale investigation was launched following a request from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Police search and seize the head of the Badminton Association

Prosecutors and police simultaneously launched a search and seizure on the same day regarding suspicions of corruption at the Korea Sports Council.

On the 28th, the 6th Criminal Division of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Sang-hyeok) sent prosecutors and investigators to the Jincheon Athletes’ Village in North Chungcheong Province to search and seize PC data of key executives and employees in connection with suspicions of collusion between the Korea Sports Council and a facility management service contractor. A prosecution official said, “We are conducting a search and seizure of a case requested by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to investigate,” and added, “It is difficult to reveal the investigation target or investigation situation.” On this day, the prosecution also conducted a search and seizure of the Pyeongchang Winter Training Center in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do.

The Korea Sports Council signed a contract with a company to manage the Jincheon Athletes’ Village facilities in February last year. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism detected suspicions of collusion between high-ranking officials of the Korea Sports Council and the company in the process of signing a contract worth 7 billion won per year and requested the prosecution to investigate.

In response to the prosecution’s search and seizure on this day, the Korea Sports Council said, “(Regarding the suspicions) should be clearly revealed through the prosecution’s investigation,” and added, “We will be faithfully investigated until the results come out, and we will watch the results.” Previously, in February, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance discovered 493 cases of illegal supply and demand after auditing corruption in the sports industry, and selected the Korea Sports Council’s Jincheon Athletes’ Village as a representative example of ‘violation of contract procedures’.

On the same day, the police searched and seized the Korea Badminton Association under the Korea Sports Council. Seoul Songpa Police Station searched and seized the headquarters of the Songpa-gu Association and the Mapo-gu headquarters office of Yonex Korea, the national team sponsor. The police searched the body of Kim Taek-gyu, president of the Korea Badminton Association, who was attending the ‘Woncheon Yonex Korea Junior Tournament’ in Miryang, Gyeongnam, and confiscated his cell phone.

On the 29th of last month, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requested a police investigation into Chairman Kim on charges of embezzlement, breach of trust, and violation of the subsidy law. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Chairman Kim is known to have entered into a verbal contract in which he would receive 30 to 40 percent of the purchase amount back as a sponsorship item (aka ‘payback’) while purchasing a badminton shuttlecock with government subsidies. It was found that the amount of goods paid back by Yonex Korea to the association from last year to this year was approximately 150 million won. About one-third of these were concentrated in the Chungnam region, and Chairman Kim served as the president of the Chungnam Badminton Association until his inauguration as president of the association.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requested the Association’s Sports Fair Committee to dismiss Chairman Kim for violating the Subsidy Management Act (Subsidy Act), saying he used the subsidy for an inappropriate purpose. In response to this, Chairman Kim argued in a National Assembly inquiry on pending issues on September 24, “All sponsored items that were seen as a payback issue were paid legally.” Due to the simultaneous search and seizure by the prosecutors and police on this day, there are predictions that the investigation into various suspicions of corruption that occurred under the regime of Korea Sports Council Chairman Lee Ki-heung may expand in all directions in the future. Chairman Lee is suspected of unfairly hiring his child’s friend as an employee at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village.