By Lee Hyo-sik
The scandal-ridden Community Chest of Korea (CCK), the nation’s largest charity group, will be forced to undergo a drastic overhaul, with its fate hanging by a thread after more than half of its employees were found to have embezzled large sums of donations for entertainment purposes over the years. CCK workers were also found to have hired unqualified staff at the request of senior officials in the organization and managed donations recklessly.
Experts say that the government needs to subject the charity group to a stringent structure on how it manages donations, which have grown to nearly 300 billion won a year.
They say CCK, the only organization endorsed and sponsored by the state to collect donations, should set up an independent inspection body, consisting of civic group members and other non-CCK personnel, as well as make public how and where they spend the donated funds.
Since its corruption and embezzlement scandals were revealed by lawmakers last month during a National Assembly audit of government offices, the group has been subject to strong public criticism.
Hundreds of thousands of citizens have posted messages on the CCK website, denouncing its lax management of donations and vowing not to contribute money anymore. Thousands more are making protest phone calls to CCK offices across the country, paralyzing the organization’s normal operations.
It has suffered from a decrease of more than 2 billion won in collected funds from last year. The scandal has also negatively affected the fundraising activities of other groups.
The CCK had initially planned to announce self-reform steps Tuesday. But it later postponed the announcement to Thursday, saying it needs more time to devise more drastic overhaul measures.
The organization has been considering establishing an independent audit body, made up of citizens, boosting personnel exchanges among CCK branches and disclosing details on the management of donations.
Many experts are calling on the charity group to subject itself to a full-scale reform and the government to set up a well-functioning oversight method.
``Above all, the CCK should reprimand all employees who embezzled donated money and were involved in other irregularities in accordance with a strict standard in order to set an example. Then, the organization should submit to an outside audit and make public how and where it spends the donated money,’’ said Kim Tae-hyun, director general of the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice.
Kim also said the CCK needs to set up an electronic system tracing its cash inflow and outflow in real time to deter the misuse of the money in the first place.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed that CCK workers were slack in distributing the donated funds but were passionate about raising their salaries _ in three years, the wage bill rose by 9 percent while the general public organization staff saw a mere 3 percent rise in the same period of time. The workers were also accused of hiring unqualified staff.
CCK officials were found to have used corporate credit cards to spend nearly 20 million won on 124 occasions at bars over the past five years, as well as 350 million won for 182 workshops and 29 million won for skiing and other leisure activities.
The ministry said it will consider designating plural charity organizations for sponsorship, and request the CCK fire the secretary-general and discipline 43 workers, while giving administrative warnings to an additional 113. The government also decided to confiscate 755 million won revealed to have been misappropriated.
Earlier on the same day, CCK Chairman Yoon Byung-chul, Secretary General Park Eul-jong and 20 other executives offered to resign, saying they will take full responsibility for the irregularities committed by their staff. But the rather belated response is insufficient to settle public distrust.
President Lee Myung-bak also instructed the Cabinet Monday to fully reform the charity group, stressing that it should take every possible measure to regain public trust.
leehs@koreatimes.co.kr