BAI Uncovered 7,347 Cases of Unfair Execution of Budget Amounting to 312.4 Billion Won

7,347 illegal unfair cases were uncovered by the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea (BAI) for the recent one year, and 312.4 billion won was estimated to be the loss of the national treasury or the unfair execution of budget.

The BAI said in the `2000 fiscal year final accounts report`, submitted to the National Assembly`s Special Committee on Budget Final Accounts on Monday, that the amount of money was estimated based on the result of the audit and inspection, conducted from last July until July this year, on 213 organizations, including the government organizations, the local autonomous organizations, and the government investment organizations.

The BAI also announced that it requested for the reprehension of 781 people, including reprimand, to take responsibilities of illegal unfair behaviors.

According to the report, the BAI pointed out 2,086 cases in the government organizations. For example, 235 cases in the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, 234 cases in the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, 178 cases in the National Tax Service, 158 cases in the Ministry of National Defense, 121 cases in the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, and 109 cases of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy.

It was estimated that the debt of the government as of the end of last year was 100.9416 trillion won in total, including 21.9066 trillion won of loan, 76.3252 trillion won of the national bonds and 2.7098 trillion won of the contract resulting in treasury obligation. 74.5654 trillion won was estimated to be the government surety obligations, which was increased by 12.5 percent in comparison with 89.7146 trillion won in 1999.

The total asset of 44 public funds, including the national investment funds, was estimated to be 253.6849 trillion won. While 33 funds including the national investment funds made 5.4593 trillion won of net profit, 11 funds, such as South-North Cooperation Fund, made 2.1067 trillion won of loss.

Kim Jeong-Hun jnghn@donga.com