By Kim Se-jeong
A former director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency’s (KOICA) Guatemala office has been indicted on charges of embezzlement, the prosecution said Wednesday.
The man, surnamed Huh, is accused of inflating expenditures for the office between July 2011 and August 2012, pocketing almost 24.6 million won ($22,300), according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
The prosecution said he kept 8.5 million won ($7,780) for himself by faking receipts for office renovation in February 2012. It added that he had used the money for personal use, buying groceries, paying his rent, parking fees and a TV subscription.
His wrongdoings were first revealed last year during an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), which referred the case to the prosecution. Huh was dismissed in April this year, according to KOICA.
KOICA’s Guatemala office opened in 2004. Huh spent almost one year there between 2011 and 2012.
As director, Huh supervised bilateral or multilateral development projects in the host country concerning public health, education, agriculture and female empowerment.
KOICA refused to elaborate on the matter, saying, “The issue is over.”
Choi Moon-jung from KOICA’s audit office did however confirm that, “As a result, we have tightened our internal audit process and anti-corruption training for our staff.”
Apart from the BAI audit, KOICA’s offices around the world face an internal audit every three years. The Guatemala office received an audit in early 2013.
The embezzlement case left a stain on the state-run agency that has grown significantly in recent years.
KOICA is now the single largest development donor in Korea. Across the world, it has 48 regional offices in 45 countries. In 2009, Korea first became a donor country and joined the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.