By Kim Bo-eun
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Monday it will audit the finances of Dulwich College Seoul, a foreign school based in southern Seoul, over alleged embezzlement.
The move follows the prosecution's indictment of school officials accused of embezzling billions of won.
The audit starts today.
Prosecutors indicted three board members of Dulwich College last week, on charges of embezzling 7.5 billion won through a paper company set up in Hong Kong.
"If we find irregularities, we'll take administrative measures according to relevant regulations," an SMOE official said.
The office said it would also conduct stricter on-site inspections of all foreign schools in the city and financial audits when necessary.
The office said that during inspections from 2012 to 2015, it took necessary administrative measures such as warnings, against foreign schools found to have problems with enrollments.
The office said it had ordered Centennial Christian School International — another foreign school in the Yongsan district — to close because it breached regulations concerning the transfer of management rights.
This was the first time for the SMOE to order a foreign school to close.
The school reportedly transferred the rights without education office approval.
"We found the violation in 2013 and ordered it to be corrected, but nothing was done," the official said.
After the 2013 violation, the school stopped recruiting students, and now has only 22. The school will close at the end of the spring semester.
"We will impose strict punitive measures on officials of foreign schools found to be engaged in irregularities, so that the schools are managed in a transparent and trustworthy manner," the official said.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) said Monday it will audit the finances of Dulwich College Seoul, a foreign school based in southern Seoul, over alleged embezzlement.
The move follows the prosecution's indictment of school officials accused of embezzling billions of won.
The audit starts today.
Prosecutors indicted three board members of Dulwich College last week, on charges of embezzling 7.5 billion won through a paper company set up in Hong Kong.
"If we find irregularities, we'll take administrative measures according to relevant regulations," an SMOE official said.
The office said it would also conduct stricter on-site inspections of all foreign schools in the city and financial audits when necessary.
Previous inspections of the schools used to focus on enrollments.
The office said that during inspections from 2012 to 2015, it took necessary administrative measures such as warnings, against foreign schools found to have problems with enrollments.
The office said it had ordered Centennial Christian School International — another foreign school in the Yongsan district — to close because it breached regulations concerning the transfer of management rights.
This was the first time for the SMOE to order a foreign school to close.
The school reportedly transferred the rights without education office approval.
"We found the violation in 2013 and ordered it to be corrected, but nothing was done," the official said.
After the 2013 violation, the school stopped recruiting students, and now has only 22. The school will close at the end of the spring semester.
"We will impose strict punitive measures on officials of foreign schools found to be engaged in irregularities, so that the schools are managed in a transparent and trustworthy manner," the official said.
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