Arrests made over construction fraud in presidential office relocation

The prosecution has arrested a Presidential Security Service official and a construction broker for illegally inflating project costs in the relocation of the presidential office.

The prosecution arrested a senior official of the Presidential Security Service and a broker on charges of inflating the construction costs of relocating the presidential office from the Blue House to Yongsan District in central Seoul and reaping unfair profit from the construction contract.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office arrested a presidential security official, identified by his surname Jeong, and a construction broker surnamed Kim after obtaining arrest warrants on Thursday, legal sources said.

Last October, the Board of Audit and Inspection requested that prosecutors look into suspicions that the company selected to install bulletproof glass for the new presidential office had inflated construction costs.

President Yoon Suk Yeol relocated the presidential office to a former defense headquarters building in Seoul's Yongsan District and opened the Blue House to the public as part of his campaign pledge to better connect with the people.

According to the audit agency, 2.04 billion won ($1.5 million) was paid for the installation of bulletproof glass at the new office, but the actual cost was only 470 million won.

Prosecutors believed Jeong awarded the bulletproof glass construction project to Kim by appointing him as the project supervisor. The two developed close ties through previous post-presidential residence construction projects.

In the process, Jeong swindled 280 million won and either received or was promised a total of 86 million won in bribes from Kim.

Kim is accused of pocketing 1.57 billion won by inflating the construction quote to five times the actual amount when selecting the contractor.

Yonhap

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, YONHAP [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]