By Kim Hyo-jin
Ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Lee Jung-hyun has sent back gifts of chocolate he received from a research center out of concern that it may violate the anti-graft law, party officials said Tuesday.
Lee was embroiled in a controversy after he received three boxes of chocolates from an official of the Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology (AICT), Sunday. However, he sent them back through a delivery service the following day.
According to media reports, Lee accepted the presents from the AICT established by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government and run by Seoul National University, on his official visit to the center, triggering suspicion of his possible violation of the law.
During an hour-long visit, Lee received a presentation from the institute about its development of autonomous vehicles, went on a test drive, and tasted a sample of the chocolate made of beans, developed by researchers there as a government project.
After the tour, an institute official reportedly handed over its publicity booklet in a shopping bag including three boxes of chocolate.
The chocolate, which will be put on the market next month, has yet to be priced but it is less than 10,000 won considering the cost of production, an AICT official and SNU professor, Lee Ki-won, said. “It was just for the publicity of the institute and the chocolate has not been on the market; so we weren’t even considering if it goes against the anti-graft law,” Lee said.
The anti-graft law, the so-called Kim Young-ran law which took effect on Sept. 28, makes it illegal for public servants, journalists, and school teachers to receive a meal worth over 30,000 won, a gift over 50,000 won and 100,000 won for cash payments at funerals and weddings. It blocks these people from receiving any gifts or money when it is job-related.
The issue was that the head of the AICT, Park Tae-hyun, mentioned “the institute needs budget support from the government” during the meeting with Lee, adding the possibility that the chocolate could be job-related.
One of Lee’s aides explained, “We then accepted it, thinking the chocolate is not a gift but a souvenir for visitors.”