Charity group faces overhaul

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Thu, November 30, 2023 | 10:49

Charity group faces overhaul

Posted : 2010-10-20 19:11

Updated : 2010-10-20 19:11

Voices calling for more transparent management of charity organizations are growing after staff at the nation’s largest charity group were found to have been involved in embezzlement and corruption.

Emblem of Community Chest

By Bae Ji-sook

Voices calling for more transparent management of charity organizations are growing after staff at the nation’s largest charity group were found to have been involved in embezzlement and corruption.

The issue surfaced when workers of the Community Chest of Korea, also known as “Sarangeui Yeolmae,” were found to have manipulated account records to cover up spending infractions.

They were also accused of receiving kickbacks for selecting subcontractors for events, and are suspected of having given special favors in hiring staff to requests from senior officials of the organization.

The news saw many people immediately give a cold shoulder to charity activities — some said they would stop donating, while other urged the police and prosecution to investigate the irregularities.

“Just imagine... they have been appropriating what we have donated for goodwill. How can we trust them again?” said Kim Hanna, an office worker who donates 50,000 won a month to the charity.

Community Chest is reported to have raised a total of 200 billion won last year — it asks ordinary citizens to donate 1 percent of their monthly salary for less privileged people.

Government departments, public organizations as well as civil servants are also known to have donated substantial amounts of money to the monopolistic group every year, since its establishment in 1998.

The Community Chest is the only organization endorsed and sponsored by the state to collect donations. Health and Welfare Minister Chin Soo-hee suggested that the government establish multiple public charity groups, while other experts called for stricter monitoring of their accounting records.

“The trouble has been predestined. A monopolizing organization is vulnerable to corruption. We need to increase the number of organizations,” she said earlier this week during a meeting with reporters.

Experts suggest that a tighter scrutiny of management could be the only way to root out the illegalities. “In the U.S. and other nations, account records and other fiscal figures are disclosed online and are also traceable by tax officials. However, they are not revealed here for some reason,” professor Kim Tong-won of Sungkyunkwan University was quoted as saying to Yonhap News.

Rep. Lee Ae-joo of the ruling Grand National Party last month told Chin that some staff made up false records to indicate the charity had paid celebrity “goodwill ambassadors,” who have in fact scarcely showed up at the office. “The Community Chest is not a simple charity group. About 90 percent of its income is from public donations and the rest is from governmental subsidies including the lottery. The mismanagement is a moral hazard — something extremely immoral,” she said.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr