(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Cho Seung-han = An audit uncovered a case in which employees at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, billed and settled payments for items different from those purchased through a store within the hospital.
Some researchers were found to have purchased items for personal use, such as liquor, Legos, and wreaths for congratulations and condolences, and paid for them with research funds. Poor management of the purchase and settlement process was also confirmed, with 71 departments carrying out credit transactions through stores within the hospital.
Problems were also pointed out in the management of research materials, such as handling and washing the raw materials for beef standard materials in the hospital cafeteria and not properly managing the inventory quantity of standard materials.
◇ Billing and settlement differently from actual purchased items… Confirm purchases of private items
According to the Korea Standards Research Institute's comprehensive audit report released by the National Science and Technology (NST) Audit Committee on the 9th, the Korea Standards Research Institute has made small direct purchases worth a total of 2.67741 billion won through stores in the hospital for about 10 years since 2015.
During the audit, a case was confirmed where the payment was settled using a purchase request that listed items that were different from the actual purchased items.
Employees purchased refreshments, etc. on credit and then settled the payment, filling out documents as if they had purchased printer toner or boxes of supplies that they had not actually purchased.
From 2018 to 2022, 267 cases of monthly settlement in this manner were confirmed.
The Audit Committee also identified 178 cases where credit payments incurred through the purchase of private goods were settled in the name of other purchases, amounting to 131,771,400 won.
A senior researcher was found to have settled a transaction worth approximately 40 million won differently from the actual purchase details.
During this process, it was also confirmed in the audit that personal items worth a total of 2,882,500 won were purchased, including two bottles of Ballantine's 30-year old liquor worth 440,000 won, Jurassic World Lego worth 665,000 won, and nutritional supplements.
Another senior researcher was found to have ordered 2.45 million won worth of congratulatory and condolence wreaths to be sent in his personal name and settled the related costs as research funds.
The Audit Committee judged that severe disciplinary action was necessary for the actions of these two lead researchers. However, it was stated in the report that the demotion was made considering the amount involved and the progress of the police investigation.
◇ Beef standard materials prepared in the cafeteria… Inventory management is also pointed out
Several problems were identified in the standard material production and inventory management of the Korea Standards Research Institute.
Standard substances are substances manufactured with uniformity and stability for the purpose of measurement or testing, and must be produced and managed according to established procedures.
However, as a result of the audit, it was found that while manufacturing beef standard substances used in the analysis of quinolone animal drugs, the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Technology purchased the raw material, beef, from the cafeteria in the hospital and also requested the cafeteria to handle and clean it.
Some of the preparatory work needed to manufacture standard materials was done in the space where employees' meals were prepared.
The audit also pointed out that document management during the standard material production process was inadequate.
It was found that some standard materials were manufactured without a production plan and the related procedures had to be reexamined.
Among standard substances that have been produced, there have also been cases where technical procedures were not prepared and related research had to be re-performed to produce the same substance again.
The Audit Committee announced that 206 types of stock standard substances and 2,914 materials had not been confirmed, and that the amount converted based on the unit sales price was estimated to be approximately 466.96 million won.
