By Chyung Eun-ju
The president, board of directors and professors from a Seoul private university allegedly misappropriated tuition fees to pay for leisure activities, according to the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.
The school falsely recorded minutes without holding a board of directors’ meeting, the ministry said. This was likely to avoid having to submit an audit report to the Korea Foundation for the Promotion of Private School.
The ministry said the directors must repay 809 million won ($725,000). Over 29.5 million won from state funds was spent on overseas travel, lawsuit costs of 253 million won and 1.6 million won on screen golf.
The professors who took leave to travel abroad granted students credits for classes that were not open. The school also used money for freshmen who did not attend orientation to increase the scholarship rate, one of the nation’s school evaluation indexes.
The ministry has asked prosecutors to investigate those allegedly involved on charges of embezzlement and malpractice.
“After the inspection, we will adhere to a zero-tolerance policy concerning the private education corruption case,” Lee Jin-seok, a ministry spokesperson, said.