Claims have emerged that allegations of accounting fraud by Democratic Party Rep. Kim Seung-won during his tenure as Gyeonggi Province party chairman, which had been reported to senior members of the Democratic Party for months, were suppressed. Former aide A said in a media interview, “The accounting fraud was reported through multiple channels on numerous occasions, but all were suppressed,” adding, “I informed them seven months ago, and a large number of lawmakers are aware.”
The petition letter in the form of a letter delivered by the aide to the senior political affairs secretary at Cheong Wa Dae is said to be over 100 pages long and contains 35 cases suspected of accounting fraud, including the creation of slush funds and false or excessive expenditures. In addition to creating slush funds by paying additional salaries to party officials and then recovering them, it was claimed that 300 million Korean won in text message costs used during the 2024 general election were also excessively paid to unregistered companies.
The aide said that on September 17, when they delivered the petition letter to Cheong Wa Dae, they also called Reps. Kim Eui-kyeom and Kim Yong-min of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee to inform them of allegations of sexual harassment and accounting fraud involving the candidate. However, the Democratic Party members of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee adopted the confirmation hearing report immediately on the same day. The aide said, “I did not expect them to adopt the confirmation hearing report immediately given the numerous issues. I thought they would give the opposition party one day.”
Accounting fraud by a political party is a serious crime as it constitutes the misappropriation of taxpayers’ money. A normal political party would investigate the truth and punish those responsible if they receive prior reports. The aides reported the accounting fraud to the central party in April but have yet to receive results, according to reports. A said, “The party said they conducted a high-intensity special audit, but the results were not delivered to the whistleblower. A conclusion was reached, but no one knows about it.” This suggests that even the results of the special audit are being suppressed.
He raised suspicions of a cover-up at the party level, asking, “They say the party will conduct another audit, but won’t it be the same people who did it in the past?” Despite knowing these circumstances, the Democratic Party leader said, “The more I look at it, the better the personnel decision,” and a member of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee defended the candidate, saying, “One cannot live on dew alone.”
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