[Anchor]
Allegations of a rebate involving the Hangang Bus project became a major point of contention during the parliamentary audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The Democratic Party criticized the city for allegedly covering up the corruption suspicions, while the People Power Party and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon pushed back, calling it a political offensive.
Reporter Yun Nara has the details.
[Reporter]
The parliamentary audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee kicked off with a fierce battle over the alleged Hangang Bus rebates.
The allegations center on claims that the shipbuilding contractor for the Hangang Bus paid some 300 million won in brokerage fees to an unregistered broker, and that this money was funneled as a rebate to an executive at SH Corporation, a co-investing public enterprise.
Seoul City, having grasped these suspicions in September of last year, requested an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection, but the request was dismissed. The Democratic Party raised suspicions of a cover-up, questioning why the city did not request a police investigation for over a year following the dismissal.
[Cho In-chul / Democratic Party Lawmaker: The right course of action would have been to request an investigation immediately. The audit request appears to be a move to sweep the corruption allegations under the rug.]
Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated that an investigation request could not be made at the time due to a lack of evidence proving that a rebate had been delivered, but noted that the city conducted internal inspections 23 times and requested a police investigation following media reports last week.
[Oh Se-hoon / Mayor of Seoul: (Democratic Party lawmakers) seem to be linking the brokerage fees and the rebate together to convey a distorted truth. I see this as a political offensive.]
A blame game also erupted over the instability of the Seoul real estate market.
The Democratic Party criticized Mayor Oh's decision last year to lift land transaction permit zones in certain areas, arguing it added fuel to rising apartment prices.
[Chung Jong-tae / Democratic Party Lawmaker: The turnaround in housing prices, the lifting of the land transaction permit system, and the reversal just 35 days later were all decisions made by the Seoul Metropolitan Government before the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration.]
In response, the People Power Party countered that policies of the Lee Jae-myung administration were to blame.
[Chung Dong-man / People Power Party Lawmaker: The (government) is implementing Lee Jae-myung-style loan regulations and tax revisions while demonizing multiple homeowners. These policies are further worsening the real estate market.]
Mayor Oh argued that former Mayor Park Won-soon's cancellation of urban redevelopment projects caused a shortage of apartment supply, adding that he will soon discuss housing supply measures with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
(Video by Joo Bum | Video Editing by Choi Jin-hwa)
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