Gwangju told to explain forgery scandal
FINA hopes 2019 swimming event will not be affected
By Kim Young-jin
FINA President Julio Maglione
The International Swimming Federation (FINA) wants information about a forgery scandal involving Gwangju, host of the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, a senior official said Monday.
“We have seen what’s been written in the media, but until we get that information (from our partners), we can’t comment,” FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu told The Korea Times from Barcelona.
The partners he referred to were Gwangju, Korea Olympic Committee and Korea Swimming Federation.
Asked about the forged letters pledging the central government’s support for the event, Marculescu replied, “We don't have any letter from Korea.”
FINA awarded the event to Gwangju Friday in Barcelona, hours after Gwangju Mayor Kang Un-tae was accused of forging the names of former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and former Culture Minister Choe Kwang-sik on the letters.
The forged signatures were used to vouch for falsely-promised $95 million in state funding.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) had previously pledged 5.5 billion won ($4.9 million) to the city to help pay for the construction of facilities for the event.
The forged documents, however, promised that the ministry would provide $100 million, citing funding for a 2011 sporting event in Daegu.
The government agreed with Gwangju to handle the forgery separately from the bidding for the event and to wait for FINA to make its decision before settling the matter of the wrongdoing.
In line with this, Marculescu said that during a visit to Korea in late April, he was given assurances by Prime Minister Jung Hong-won that Gwangju would have full government support.
“When we visited the Blue House, we met the Prime Minister personally and he gave all his support.”
Seoul officials have said they will take steps to press charges against the mayor.
The ministry provided the Gwangju bid committee with documents promising the government support in late February 2013, and those were submitted to FINA on April 2.
But later that month, when the ministry and prime minister’s office reviewed the bid in preparation for a scheduled visit by FINA to Gwangju, it was discovered that the documents were different from what they provided to the city.
The ministry said it told the bid committee that the new documents constituted an illegal act. It added that it would retract its financial support. Gwangju officials replaced the document in its final bid file submitted June 27.
The bid committee requested that the ministry handle the efforts to host the event and the forging of the documents as separate matters.
The ministry complied.
At a press briefing on Monday, Noh Tae-gang, the ministry's director of sports, said the ministry has asked the prosecutors to further investigate the case. Noh added that a civil servant for Gwangju has told the ministry that he acted on his own to forge the signatures, but that it is up to legal authorities to determine who was responsible.
An MCST official said he suspected Gwangju cited the amount of $100 million to “enhance their chances to attract the swimming event.”
“The official position of the ministry is that we will allow Gwangju to attract the event, but that we won’t support it financially,” he added, requesting not to be named.
Kang said he apologized to the central government after learning about the forging of the documents on April 26.
FINA President Julio Maglione awarded the event to Gwangju at a news conference Friday in Barcelona, where the 2013 championships are being held.