KFA pays large settlement to corrupt employee

By Cho Mu-hyun

The Korea Football Association (KFA) is under criticism by their union after it was revealed it paid a large settlement to a former employee involved in theft and suspected of embezzlement.

According to a source close to the football governing body on Thursday, the organization opened a hearing on Jan. 13 concerning the employee and paid him 150 million won as “severance pay” after he was sacked.

The former KFA accountant was let go on Dec. 31 after he was found stealing football related items from another department.

Under pressure from above to resign, he then threatened to speak out about corruption and a slush fund at the KFA while refusing to quit.

He was summoned by KFA President Cho Joong-yun on Nov. 29 and ordered to file a report concerning the matter and wait upon disciplinary procedures to be decided by relative departments.

However, the KFA’s executive members meted out a mere one-week suspension in the disciplinary hearing on Dec. 9, and postponed the final judgment for a second hearing.

The decision raised suspicions of favoritism by an executive member and the KFA union raised their voices in opposition to the lax punishment and demanded a more thorough review.

The KFA convened four investigative meetings and found out that the employee had been pocketing money returned from corporate credit cards for his personal use.

“The KFA’s total spending from corporate credit cards comes out around 5 billion won a year. About 0.2 percent of that amount is returned by the card company, and the employee appropriated that money,” said a source close to the KFA who asked to remain anonymous.

“The executive members don’t even know the amount the card company returned to date. We paid him and sent him away when we should have filed criminal charges and claimed damages,” he added.

Union members are demanding KFA Chief Executive Officer Kim Jin-gook resign for his irresponsible handling of the situation and want charges brought against the employee.

The man in question started working as an accountant for the KFA in 2006, handling a budget of 100 billion won. He was the sole supervisor of credit card use in the organization and is known to have appropriated 24.89 million won using his position.

Kim denied allegations of favoritism made by the union, while admitting that the employee returned the money he appropriated.

The 60-year-old added that the 150 million won was for the “past services” and that the governing body was not threatened by the employee.