[Exclusive] "No Internal Inspection into Double Receipt of Travel Expenses"... Korean National Police Agency Chief Reported to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO)

[Financial News] The leadership of the Korean National Police Agency has been reported to the CIO on suspicion of dereliction of duty. The complaint alleges that officials failed to launch an internal inspection after receiving allegations that executives of the National Council of Police Workplace Associations had received duplicate travel expenses.
According to reporting by Financial News on the 21st, Eum Young-bae, former chair of the workplace association at Incheon Jungbu Police Station and head of the Daemui Security Center at Yeongjong Police Station in Incheon, filed a complaint with the CIO that morning against the commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency. The complaint alleged dereliction of duty under Article 122 of the Criminal Act and was submitted through Document24, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) document-distribution system.
The complaint stems from allegations that 33 police officials, including executives of the National Council of Police Workplace Associations, received duplicate travel expenses. The National Council, which functions much like a police officers' union, has paid members daily allowances, transportation expenses, lodging expenses, and meal expenses for attending meetings and events under its own accounting rules. At the same time, when attendance at those events is processed by the police officer's station as an official business trip, the officer can also receive government travel expenses under the national travel allowance system. Inspector Eum said that after cross-checking government travel expense payment records obtained through an information disclosure request with the National Council's settlement documents, he found circumstances suggesting that many individuals had received travel expenses from both sources for the same trip.
Inspector Eum's allegations of dereliction of duty have two parts. First, although the Korean National Police Agency was in a position to understand the travel expense payment structure through the National Council's bylaws and accounting regulations, it allegedly failed to conduct a substantive audit or inspection into duplicate payments of government travel expenses for approximately four years beginning in 2023. Second, after receiving specific supporting materials, the agency did not launch an internal inspection and instead decided to wait for the results of the criminal investigation.
Inspector Eum claimed that if the requirements for improper receipt and additional collection are ultimately recognized, the combined amount of the principal and additional collection could reach up to 170 million won. He argued that, because monetary claims held by the state are subject to a five-year statute of limitations under the National Finance Act, exercising the right to recover and collect payments made in 2023 could become problematic from 2028.
In connection with the matter, Inspector Eum filed a complaint on May 26 with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office against the 33 National Council executives on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust in the course of business. On the 28th of last month, he also asked the Korean National Police Agency to conduct an internal inspection of the 33 individuals. On the 4th, the agency responded that, since the case was under investigation at Seodaemun Police Station, it would consider measures, including an internal inspection, based on the outcome.
[email protected] Kim Dong-gyu Reporter