ed Holes in arms acquisition
The state auditor has accused the Defense Acquisition Program Administration of wasting 78 billion won in taxpayer money by overlooking false payment requests from defense contractors in the Surion helicopter project.
The Board of Audit and Inspection said Korea Aerospace Industries collected about 54.7 billion won in illicit profits in the six-year project to develop a twin-engine light utility helicopter at a cost of 1.3 trillion won.
The KAI, which acted as an intermediary between DAPA and 22 foreign and domestic contractors, also didn’t return 15.6 billion won, which was supposed to pay for the localization of the power transfer unit on the helicopter, although it failed to do so. In addition, a KAI employee colluded with a relative to receive 6 billion won illegally by inflating development costs.
The auditing agency asked DAPA to sanction three of its employees while requesting investigations into the latest defense industry wrongdoing, noting that KAI could collect an additional 24 billion won in illicit profits unless due measures are taken.
The Surion helicopter can carry nine people during combat and travel at a speed of 270km per hour for two and a half hours. A prototype of the Surion was delivered in August 2009 and completed its maiden flight in March 2010 before entering full-scale production in 2012. So far, 34 helicopters have been deployed.
The KAI refuted the audit report, saying it has acted legally. But we have to feel dumfounded about the string of irregularities in our weapons development industry.
The Navy came under fire for buying a malfunctioning sonar system installed in the 3,500-ton Tongyeong, the nation’s first rescue and salvage ship, for 4.1 billion won. As it turned out, its market price was only 200 million won. The ship could not join rescue operations while the ferry Sewol was sinking.
In July, the BAI announced that the state-run Agency for Defense Development purchased faulty test equipment for the Hyeongung anti-tank guided missile system in what appears to be another defense corruption case.
A joint government investigation team said in its interim announcement in July that the size of irregularities in our defense industry could cost the taxpayer nearly 1 trillion won.
Bribery and shoddy practices in defense procurement have become so widespread that Choi Yoon-hee, who retired as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier this month, is said to be facing a prosecution summons soon over his possible involvement in a corruption case.
Irregularities in arms acquisition are an anti-state crime that certainly undermines people’s trust in the military. These wrongdoings have already reached a dangerous level, which requires the government to scrutinize the defense industry across the board so that similar shameful incidents do not recur.