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| ▲ A NongHyup office (Yonhap) |
govt audit-agricultural cooperative
Gov't to refer Nonghyup chief to police over alleged embezzlement, bribery
SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- The government said Monday it plans to refer the chairman of Nonghyup, the country's agricultural cooperative and banking group, to the police for investigation over allegations of embezzlement and bribery.
The plan was announced by an interagency team, comprised of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the agriculture ministry, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, following a special audit of Nonghyup (the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation), its affiliates and member cooperatives that began Jan. 26.
The team said it found various irregularities, such as possible embezzlement of public funds, preferential loan agreements and accounting fraud.
Of them, the team plans to refer 14 major cases to the police for investigation, while ordering Nonghyup to devise remedies or improvements for a tentative 96 additional cases.
According to the findings, NongHyup Chairman Kang Ho-dong embezzled the funds of an affiliated foundation in 2024 and 2025 with the help of one of its senior officials to procure 490 million won (US$327,000) worth of gifts for people who helped his election as chairman.
Kang also accepted a gold key from member cooperative chiefs to mark his first year in office in a possible violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, the team said.
"Key senior officials of NongHyup have engaged in wide-ranging illegal acts and abuses of power, preferential loans and contracts, and lax budget management," the government said. "We confirmed that this is not unrelated to a dysfunctional internal control system and an election system vulnerable to bribery."
The government said it plans to draw up fundamental measures to overhaul NongHyup, together with the relevant reform committee, and announce the results at an early date.
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