By Chung Hyun-chae
High-ranking officials of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and one of its affiliates were arrested on charges of taking bribes from a supplier in return for favors, the prosecution said Sunday.
Prosecutors arrested 10 people involved, including former KEPCO permanent auditor Kang Seung-cheol and the head of a supplier, surnamed Kim. Another five, including a manager at the affiliate, KEPCO KDN, surnamed Shin, was indicted without physical detention.
According to the prosecution, Kim allegedly offered about 356.9 million won ($320,000) in kickbacks to 10 executives of KEPCO, KEPCO KDN and the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) from 2008 through last year.
Kim's company supplied various telecommunications equipments to KEPCO through the affiliate.
He used different ways to bribe them according to each executive's interest.
He gave a Hyundai Genesis rental car to Kang, while offering a Volkwagen New Beetle to an IT department chief of KEPCO. He paid for golf lessons for a KHNP official's son.
Kim also provided 20 million won in cash and a 3.6-million-won German-made bicycle to a director at KEPCO KDN, as well as a car audio system worth 9.9 million won to another lower-level official.
In return, the executives helped Kim's company win bids to supply telecommunications equipment by informing him of the bidding information in advance or giving high scores in evaluation.
As a result, Kim's company won 63 contracts from KEPCO worth 41.2 billion won since 2008.
Kim also provided 38 million won in bribes to a police superintendant, surnamed Kang, who had worked at Cheong Wa Dae, in exchange for scrapping an investigation into his company or reporting competitors' irregularities to the presidential office.
During Kang's service at Cheong Wa Dae, one of the competitors' irregularities was reported to the National Police Agency, which investigated the company following the report.
Kim offered the money to Kang by falsely registering his wife as an employee.
He amassed the bribe money by embezzling company funds and also falsely registering his relatives as his employees.
For this, Kim was additionally charged with embezzlement.
"The corruption monitoring system did not work at KEPCO. All executives included in the bidding process, as well as the auditor who was supposed to check such irregularities, were bribed," a prosecutor said.
High-ranking officials of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and one of its affiliates were arrested on charges of taking bribes from a supplier in return for favors, the prosecution said Sunday.
Prosecutors arrested 10 people involved, including former KEPCO permanent auditor Kang Seung-cheol and the head of a supplier, surnamed Kim. Another five, including a manager at the affiliate, KEPCO KDN, surnamed Shin, was indicted without physical detention.
According to the prosecution, Kim allegedly offered about 356.9 million won ($320,000) in kickbacks to 10 executives of KEPCO, KEPCO KDN and the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) from 2008 through last year.
Kim's company supplied various telecommunications equipments to KEPCO through the affiliate.
He used different ways to bribe them according to each executive's interest.
He gave a Hyundai Genesis rental car to Kang, while offering a Volkwagen New Beetle to an IT department chief of KEPCO. He paid for golf lessons for a KHNP official's son.
Kim also provided 20 million won in cash and a 3.6-million-won German-made bicycle to a director at KEPCO KDN, as well as a car audio system worth 9.9 million won to another lower-level official.
In return, the executives helped Kim's company win bids to supply telecommunications equipment by informing him of the bidding information in advance or giving high scores in evaluation.
As a result, Kim's company won 63 contracts from KEPCO worth 41.2 billion won since 2008.
Kim also provided 38 million won in bribes to a police superintendant, surnamed Kang, who had worked at Cheong Wa Dae, in exchange for scrapping an investigation into his company or reporting competitors' irregularities to the presidential office.
During Kang's service at Cheong Wa Dae, one of the competitors' irregularities was reported to the National Police Agency, which investigated the company following the report.
Kim offered the money to Kang by falsely registering his wife as an employee.
He amassed the bribe money by embezzling company funds and also falsely registering his relatives as his employees.
For this, Kim was additionally charged with embezzlement.
"The corruption monitoring system did not work at KEPCO. All executives included in the bidding process, as well as the auditor who was supposed to check such irregularities, were bribed," a prosecutor said.
