Sports ministry to request probe into money scandal in KBO

By Baek Byung-yeul

The Sports ministry said Thursday it will request that the prosecution investigate the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) for trying to whitewash a scandal involving an umpire and a baseball team CEO.

This move comes after the local media recently reported about a suspicious money transaction between a former umpire of the KBO and a former CEO of the Doosan Bears ahead of the 2013 postseason in the KBO League.

After the news report, the Bears CEO Kim Seung-young resigned from his post Monday and the Bears admitted that Kim handed over 3 million won to umpire Choi Gyu-soon a day before the beginning of the KBO playoff series between the Bears and the LG Twins on Oct. 16, 2013. Choi, who retired from his job at the end of the 2013 season, was the umpire of the playoff games that year and the Bears won the best-of-five series and advanced to the final round of the Korean Series.

Though officials of the baseball team admitted the transaction took place, they denied it was related to match-fixing, saying the cash transfer was just Kim’s personal decision. Kim said he gave the money to Choi because Choi needed settlement money as he was involved in an auto accident at that time, in which he was allegedly drunk.

The scandal also has put the KBO under criticism as the organization tried to condone the wrongdoing. The KBO acknowledged the transaction between Kim and Choi in August of 2016 and conducted an internal investigation. However, the KBO wrapped up the case by giving Kim a stern warning at its disciplinary committee meeting in March.

“The money scandal involving the umpire originated because of the KBO’s dereliction of duty in that the baseball governing body concealed its problem,” an official at the sports ministry said. “We will mend the fault by reporting this case to the prosecutor’s office and conduct a special audit of the KBO.”

The sports ministry added it will conduct inspections to monitor how the KBO has spent its government subsidy and will take legal action against the KBO if any illegalities were committed.