Seoul Metropolitan Government fires back at Democratic Party: “Are the Hangang Bus allegations a revival of the saengtaetang controversy?”

[Financial News] As the Democratic Party of Korea stepped up its attacks over allegations of rebates surrounding the Hangang Bus project, the Seoul Metropolitan Government hit back, asking, “Is the aim to get to the bottom of the truth, or to revive the saengtaetang controversy?” The city says that despite requesting an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection, conducting its own investigation, and asking police to investigate, the Democratic Party has continued its political attacks by distorting the facts. On the 18th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government issued a statement by spokesperson Ho Jun-seok, saying, “The Democratic Party’s irresponsible political attacks over Hangang Bus are becoming increasingly outrageous,” and that it was “deliberately disparaging even the city’s efforts to establish the facts, while ignoring the most basic facts.”
The latest dispute was sparked by disagreement over when the Seoul Metropolitan Government responded to rebate allegations that emerged during construction of Hangang Bus vessels. The Democratic Party says the city took more than a year to ask police to investigate after becoming aware of the allegations, raising the possibility of a delayed response and a cover-up.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government dismissed allegations of a delayed response, saying it had requested a public-interest audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection on October 2 last year and continued its own investigation even after the audit request was dismissed. The city said it had checked the facts dozens of times through requests for documents, site visits, interviews with people involved and phone calls, and had formally asked the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to investigate on the 16th.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government criticized the Democratic Party in particular for taking issue only with when the city asked police to investigate, while leaving out the course of its investigation. In its statement, the city said, “Claiming that we ‘put off the investigation for a year’ is nothing more than political agitation that edits the facts to suit its own purposes.”
The city also addressed criticism that it had not specified the alleged 320 million won rebate in the audit request submitted to the Board of Audit and Inspection. It said that although it was aware of the allegation at the time, rather than present unverified claims as fact, it sought the judgment of an independent audit body on broader allegations of illegality and impropriety, including the contractor selection process, delays in vessel construction and rising project costs.
The city also called on those alleging a cover-up of misconduct or an order to destroy investigative materials to present concrete evidence. It said that, having already referred the case to the investigative authorities, it would provide relevant materials and cooperate so that the facts and responsibility could be established.
At the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee’s audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 15th, it was suggested that some of the project funds paid to the company building Hangang Bus vessels may have passed through a broker and reached a senior official at the Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation (SH). After the city asked police to investigate, the substance of the allegations and the investigation conducted so far also became subject to review by the investigative authorities.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government urged the Democratic Party to stop treating unverified allegations as established fact before the investigation results are released.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government asked, “If we’re criticized for requesting an audit, conducting our own investigation and asking the police to investigate, what on earth are we supposed to do?” It went on to challenge the party: “Does the Democratic Party want to get to the bottom of the truth, or does it want to revive the ‘saengtaetang controversy’ with the conclusion decided in advance?”
It added, “We urge the Democratic Party to immediately stop its political attacks—hiding behind the pretext of seeking the truth, distorting the facts and deceiving citizens with ‘make an allegation and back off’ tactics—and to wait calmly for the objective investigation results.” 

[email protected] Seong Chorong Reporter