The Seoul Metropolitan Government has formally asked police to investigate kickback allegations that surfaced during the construction of vessels for the Hangang Bus, the city's river shuttle service.
Ho Joon-seok, spokesperson for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said in a statement on Oct. 16 that the city had "formally requested that the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency investigate allegations of illegal transactions raised in the course of building Hangang Bus vessels." He added that the city would "halt the audit committee's ongoing internal inquiry and provide police with all findings and related materials gathered so far, cooperating actively so that a thorough investigation can be carried out."
Turning to the Democratic Party of Korea, the city urged the party to "stop political attacks that shake up Seoul's administration and cause unnecessary confusion by putting unverified allegations front and center." At a National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee audit of the Seoul city government the previous day, Rep. Park Ju-min of the Democratic Party and other lawmakers alleged that part of the project funds paid to a Hangang Bus manufacturer may have flowed through a broker to a senior executive at the Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation (SH).
The city also outlined the course of its internal inquiry in the statement. "While examining the relevant facts, we concluded it would be more appropriate for a third-party body to conduct the inquiry in order to strengthen objectivity and fairness, so we requested a public-interest audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection covering the entire selection process for the company in question," Ho said. "But after the board dismissed the request, we continued the inquiry on our own through the Seoul audit committee."
According to the city, officials reported a plan for an additional inquiry into the vessel contracts to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on June 18, shortly after the Board of Audit and Inspection released its audit findings on the Hangang Bus. The city then notified the Future Hangang Headquarters and SH of changes to the inquiry on July 14, and from July 23 through Oct. 15 verified facts and reviewed related materials through three requests for documents, one on-site inspection, four interviews with those involved and 21 phone calls.
"At the audit the previous day, one-sided political attacks continued without proper mention of the city's efforts to establish the facts, including its request for an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection, and even the Democratic Party's floor leader used this as material for political attacks," the city said. "We concluded that we could no longer allow the substance of fact-finding to be distorted by political attacks, so we immediately requested an investigation."