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October 17, 2008
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“According to the Board of Audit and Inspection’s 2007 report, 168.3 billion won was wrongfully paid that year alone,” Hong Joon-pyo, floor leader of the governing party, said at a GNP leadership meeting. “Doctors, lawyers, journalists and other ineligible people have received the money.” “Over three years since 2005, 3.4 trillion won has been paid for rice farming subsidies, and the government must redeem wrongful payments and use the money to actually support farmers,” Hong said. “The core of this scandal is that the Board of Audit and Inspection investigated the matter in July 2007 but never concluded the probe, announced the outcome or improved the system. Speculation has grown that the Roh administration concealed this scandal, worrying that farmers’ rage would play against it during the presidential election.” While Hong said the Roh administration had poor oversight over the agricultural program, his own party was not free from scandal. Two Grand National lawmakers representing Gyeonggi Province were found to have received the rice farming subsidies, the JoongAng Ilbo reported Thursday. Representatives Kim Sung-hoi of Hwaseong and Kim Hack-yong of Anseong received the money under their own names. Both lawmakers said the rice paddies of their families were registered under their names, but their parents actually farmed the lands. The rice farming subsidy scandal was first triggered by an allegation that the Lee administration’s vice welfare minister, Lee Bong-hwa, had attempted to receive the money for her land. At the request of the Democratic Labor Party, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office officially launched an investigation into her case. The party has claimed that her action amounts to an attempted fraud. “We are reviewing whether her attempt to collect the subsidy is in violation of the law or not,” a prosecution source said. “We think a fraud charge can be applied if she had cheated the government office by pretending that she had farmed.” There is no precedent for a land owner to receive the subsidy by pretending that he or she had actually farmed the land. Purchasing farmland with a purpose other than farming is also illegal. Opposition parties continued to attack the Lee administration for not firing Vice Minister Lee. They also criticized the Grand National Party for protecting its two lawmakers who received the rice farming subsidies on behalf of their parents. “Whether it’s an enemy or ally, we will get to the bottom of this matter and those who deserve embarrassment and punishment must take responsibility,” said Democratic Party Chairman Chung Sye-kyun. Won Hye-young, the party’s floor leader, said the party will cooperate with the Liberty Forward and Democratic Labor parties to push forward a National Assembly investigation. The Liberty Forward Party Chairman Lee Hoi-chang also supported the idea of the investigation. The Democratic Labor Party also said yesterday that the Grand National Party must make public the list of those who received subsidies. Park Seong-heup, the party’s spokesman, said the party will cooperate with farmers’ groups and civic groups to “act” on the matter, adding that the party is drafting a plan to improve the subsidy program. While lawmakers wanted to look into the matter, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said yesterday it has launched a sweeping investigation into all public servants involved in the subsidy controversy. Public anger over ranking officials’ alleged ethics breach continued to boil over yesterday. The People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy held a press conference urging the government and the Grand National Party to make public the names of “shameless officials.” The Korean Government Employees’ Union also held a press conference yesterday, asking the administration to open the list. The Board of Audit and Inspection denied an allegation yesterday that after last year’s audit it intentionally destroyed the list of 170,000 who improperly received subsidies. “We just analyzed the statistics. We never produced a list of individuals,” the audit board said yesterday in a statement. “The raw data of the 998,000 people who received the subsidy are stored at the Agriculture Ministry and local governments. The same list can be created anytime using the computerized data.” By Ser Myo-ja Staff Reporter [myoja@joongang.co.kr] |
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