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Sat, December 2, 2023 | 11:35
ExclusiveJCS admits improper use of ‘clean card‘
합참, 2차가기 위해 클린카드로 카드깡해
Posted : 2012-02-08 18:12
Updated : 2012-02-08 18:12
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Seen is Oasis noraebang and Matsarang restaurant.
/ Korea Times photo by Lee Tae-hoon

By Lee Tae-hoon

Public relations officers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the nation’s top military decision-making body, admitted Wednesday of wrongfully using government issued credit cards to have drinks and sing at a Korean style karaoke.

The officers said they made inflated payments at a restaurant, named Matsarang, in Yongsan, downtown Seoul to get cash during the daytime so that they could use the money to go to a karaoke bar, called Oasis, at night. Oasis is located next to the restaurant.

“It’s true that some business expenses of the JCS public relations (PR) office have been illicitly used,” spokesman Col. Lee Boong-woo acknowledged.

“Unlawfully using the card to get money for a further session of drinking at another location has long been a common practice. We have failed to eliminate it, but we assure you that it won’t happen again.”

Korea introduced the so-called “clean card system,” government issued credit cards with clear guidelines for use, in 2005. Officials using clean cards are barred from making payments at entertainment facilities, such as karaoke bars, nightclubs, massage parlors and casinos.

Lee argued that officers of the JCS PR office had no choice but to make bogus payments at Matsarang, where they had become patrons, in order to cover “unavoidable expenses” incurred at Oasis.

However, he later backtracked, saying that no such illicit activity was carried out during his term in office.

“Perhaps, that happened in the past, but how could this take place these days?” he asked, refuting his earlier comments.

Another JCS PR officer explained that his office receives slightly more than 10 million won ($8,957) a year as meal and entertainment expenses, but the money usually runs out in November.

“The JCS public relations office has crossed the line, but it did so with no bad intentions,” he said.

A defense source claimed that the JCS PR office managed to get away with its illicit diversion of the business expenditure partly because the officer at the Defense Security Command (DSC) in charge of monitoring its unethical activities has turned a blind eye.

He said the DSC officer, identified as Maj. Ma, demanded a separate room and bottles of beer from the JCS PR office when he was on duty monitoring JCS officials at Oasis in December last year following JCS chief Gen. Jung Seung-jo’s dinner gathering with defense reporters.

A spokesman for the Army said that its PR office also frequented Matsarang, but has never made bogus payments nor abused the credit card system in order to raise funds necessary to cover drinking bills.

“We receive slightly more than 20 million won a year as business expenses, and do not make bogus payments to have drinks in bars and karaoke rooms,”he said.

“When it is absolutely necessary to have drinks for a business purpose, such as drinks after a dinner gathering with reporters, we use cash provided by the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Sang-ki out of his business expenses.”

Spokesmen for the Air Force and Navy also downplayed the possibility of using credit cards for unsolicited purposes, adding that they receive less than 10 million a year as business expenses.

Military insiders, however, refuted the claims, saying the abusive use of the card has long been prevalent, especially among senior defense officials.

In October last year, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance imposed penalties on officials of 109 state-run organizations, including the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), for using their cards illegally.

Officials of the KEC were found to have charged 428 million won on their business credit cards at restaurants during office hours.

합참, 2차가기 위해 클린카드로 카드깡해
합참, 2차가기 위해 클린카드로 카드깡해 합참 공보과는 공보활동을 위해 지급된 ‘클린카드’를 국방부 인근에 위치한 “맛사랑”이라는 식당에서 카드깡을 하여 그 옆 건물인 오아시스에서 사용해왔음을 인정했다. 이붕우 합참 공보실장은 노래방, 술집 등에서 사용이 제한된 클린카드를 식당 등에서 현금화하여 노래방 등에서 공보활동비 명목으로 사용된 적이 있었던 것은 인정하지만, 앞으로는 이러한 일이 재발 되지 않도록 노력하겠다고 밝혔다. 하지만 이 후 이붕우 실장은 “과거에는 그런 일들이 있었는지는 모르겠으나 지금 그런 일이 있겠느냐고”며 합참공보실에서 카드깡을 한 적이 없다고 부인했다. 한 내부 제보자에 의하면 합참공보실은 매년 1천여만원 정도의 공보비를 국고에서 지원 받고 있지만 그 액수가 공보활동을 하기에 부족해, 술자리가 있을 경우 클린카드로 가지고 맛사랑에서 카드깡을해 오아시스를 이용한 적이 있다. 한 군 관계자는 합참공보실의 담당하고 있는 A모 기무사 소령이 카드깡 등 탈법행위를 감시해야 하나 오히려 논란이 되고 있는 오아시스 노래방에서 합참관계자들에게 방을 잡아 달라 요구하는 등 본연의 임무를 충실히 하지 않아 이런 불미스러운 일들을 미연에 방지하지 못한 면이 없지 않아 있다고 지적했다. 한편, 2천여만원의 공보비를 국고에서 지원받고 있는 육군 공보실은 육군공보 장교들도 맛사랑을 자주 가는 것은 사실이지만 카드깡 등 탈법적인 방법으로 공보비를 지출한 적이 없다고 주장했다. 클린카드는 2005년부터 도입된 법인카드로 유흥ㆍ위생ㆍ레저ㆍ사행 등 업종에선 사용이 엄격히 제한된다. 기획재정부는 지난해 10월 109개 공공기관에 대해 자체적으로 특별감사를 벌여 법인카드 부정사용 사례를 적발하고 인사조치 한 적이 있다.
Emailleeth@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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