DAPA confirms three cases of LIG D&A bribery-related businesses... Review bid limits

It was revealed that an employee of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration who was arrested on charges of receiving hundreds of millions of won in bribes in return for providing convenience to defense company LIG D&A was involved in multiple projects won by LIG D&A.

DAPA Commissioner Lee Yong-cheol met with reporters on the 18th and said, "It was found that the arrested employee participated as an evaluation committee member in the evaluation of proposals for four projects in which LIG D&A participated in the bidding, and three of these were actually awarded projects."

He said, “The prosecution conducted a search and seizure on 14 projects won by LIG D&A. Although we cannot be certain yet, at least the three cases may be highly related to bribery.”

In addition to the 'Jang Bogo-II submarine Link-22 system development' project that has already been revealed, there are at least two more LIG D&A order projects in which the employee was involved.

Officer A, known as a member of the DAPA's basic power business electrification support management team, was arrested and indicted on charges of bribery under the Aggravated Punishment Act for Specific Crimes on the 28th of last month.

He is accused of receiving bribes worth 460 million won from executives and employees of defense companies such as LIG D&A during the weapons development bidding process, passing on confidential business-related information, or giving high scores in proposal evaluations.

However, the DAPA stated that the involvement of additional higher-ups, such as senior officials, was not identified.

Commissioner Lee explained, “So far, the investigation target is only one arrested employee, and the involvement of other employees has not been revealed,” adding, “We believe there is a high possibility of personal deviation.”

The DAPA explained that if bribery in the amount of 460 million won is confirmed, the DAPA can impose sanctions on LIG D&A under the Defense Acquisition Program Act or the National Contract Act with a '2-year ban on participation in bidding.' When applying the National Contract Act, the imposition of a fine may replace the restriction of bidding participation.

Commissioner Lee, however, mentioned that Hanwha Aerospace, whose business area overlaps with LIG D&A, is also currently under investigation for a fire accident at its Daejeon plant, adding, "If both companies are subject to restrictions on participation in bidding, the government's projects will have to be postponed or they will have no choice but to purchase overseas," adding, "We cannot help but take comprehensive consideration."