▲ Infographic on the regular audit results of Wonju City
An audit has revealed that the city of Wonju violated regulations by granting additional subsidies to an organization that had improperly executed local subsidies.
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) disclosed the results of its regular audit of Wonju City today (September 28).
According to the BAI, under the Local Subsidy Act, organizations that receive subsidies through false or fraudulent means or face clawbacks of 2 million won or more due to improper execution are restricted from receiving further subsidies.
However, after confirming that the mixed martial arts organization Road FC, which received a 600 million won subsidy in 2023, had improperly used about 54 million won of the funds, Wonju City still provided an additional 700 million won to the group the following year.
Regarding this matter, Wonju City stated that "the subsidies were inevitably provided considering factors such as the imminent hosting of an event and the time required to confirm the findings of the investigation (into the fraudulent receipt of subsidies)," while acknowledging that it "failed to sufficiently consider proactive administrative measures, such as canceling the grant decision," according to the BAI.
In addition, Wonju City failed to properly supervise businesses authorized to repurpose land within agricultural promotion areas, despite their violations of Farmland Act regulations such as unauthorized leasing for other business purposes, and took no action against startup small and medium-sized enterprises that received benefits including tax cuts but failed to construct factories for an extended period.
The BAI also stated that Gangwon Province failed to take effective administrative action regarding six sites in the Wonju Innovation City industry-academia-research cluster, which had remained unconstructed or suspended for up to more than 10 years, simply accepting the businesses' claims that they intended to pursue the projects.
(Photo courtesy of the Board of Audit and Inspection, Yonhap News)
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