By Kim Yon-se Staff Reporter State auditors unveiled malpractices allegedly perpetrated by several public firms following its one-month inspection of 31 state-owned companies, Monday. The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said it will punish officials allegedly involved in negligent management, lax duties and improper hiring of employees, adding that ethical breaches have reached a critical level at some of those companies. Targeted for punitive actions are Korea Coal, Korea Land, Korea Expressway, Korea National Oil, Korea Minting and Security Printing, Korea Racing Authority, Korea Export Insurance and Korea Securities Depository. The Korea Minting and Security Printing was hit for personnel irregularities. It hired a jobseeker who ranked 666th in a recruitment test in 2007 by fabricating his ranking as 45th. Korea Coal hired 10 employees by forging applicants' certificates in 2007, the auditing agency announced. It also detected Korea Expressway's rigging of financial statements by 43.1 billion won. Executives of the Korea Securities Depository were issued a warning for their excess spending on corporate credit cards. The BAI said it dispatched more than 200 inspectors to the 31 public companies for the audit. It is expected that CEOs and executives of the reprimanded companies may face a reshuffle after the general elections on April 9. All of the executives at public companies were appointed by the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration. It is speculated that many of the alleged ``Roh cronies'' will be replaced through either voluntary resignation or forcible, invisible pressure from the new conservative administration. President Lee has been pushing for slashing payrolls in the government and public sector in line with his policy of a small but efficient government. kys@koreatimes.co.kr