Cases of improper budget spending, including logging falsified work records, have been uncovered at liaison offices operated by local governments to coordinate policies and budgets with the National Assembly and central government agencies.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced today (September 29) that an inspection into budget spending at these liaison offices identified improper expenditures totaling over 270 million won across 68 offices.

Targeting 110 local governments that operate liaison offices, the commission focused its review on last year's budget records regarding overtime pay, business trip travel allowances, official vehicles, housing subsidies, office management costs, and operational expenses.

Regarding overtime allowances, numerous instances were found where employees logged clock-out times despite little evidence of actual overtime work, or arbitrarily filled out manual logs to improperly receive allowances.

Some employees returned to the office late after dining or drinking to clock out, while others exploited the fact that they worked out of official residences without separate office spaces, fabricating manual logbooks up to the maximum monthly allowance limit.

There were also cases where personnel collected fixed monthly travel allowances without submitting any supporting documentation, or reported ordinary commutes from their homes as official business trips.

In addition, official vehicles were driven for personal reasons, such as daily commutes from home and visits to golf courses, while vehicle logs were neglected, and separate housing subsidies were paid to liaison officers who already resided within the same residential zone as their workplaces.

The ACRC plans to notify the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the relevant local governments of the investigation findings, requesting actions such as the recovery of improperly spent funds and disciplinary measures against violators.

Furthermore, to prevent lax discipline and substandard budget management, the commission intends to formulate and distribute institutional improvement measures, including stricter oversight of liaison officers' work attendance, to relevant ministries and local governments.

ACRC Chairperson Jeong Il-yeon said, "The improper practice of straying from the original purpose of cooperation with the National Assembly and central ministries, exploiting loopholes in remote work to waste taxpayers' money, must be completely eradicated".

(Photo: Courtesy of Yonhap News TV, Yonhap News)