A professor at Seoul National University was caught embezzling 220 million won ($200,600) in research funds, the state auditor said Wednesday.
The professor ― formerly heading 16 state-commissioned research and development projects ― is believed to have pocketed research funds by exaggerating the number of researchers who were partaking in the project and inflating the reported costs, according to the Board of Audit and Inspection. He faked the official documents from July 2008 to May of last year, stealing most of the 310 million won that was supposed to have been paid to six researchers working for him, the BAI said.
Although he claimed to have used the money to pay for his students’ tuitions, he failed to turn in the documents as proof, and students denied receiving any money from him.
When the inspection commenced, the professor even attempted to conceal his crimes by having a subordinate hide a bag full of cash in his lab.
The BAI recommended that the SNU fire him, while requesting the prosecutors to investigate the case. The auditors also notified five state-run bodies that commissioned the cited projects ― including the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning ― to find ways to collect the embezzled funds.
The case was revealed in the BAI’s monthlong inspection from April to May last year, when the organization unearthed 68 cases of wrongdoings concerning R&D funds by 21 state-run institutes and public companies.
According to the BAI, each institute invested an average of 699.4 billion won on R&D, but they added 872.2 billion won of unrelated costs to the R&D budget. For example, some institutes would include costs for unrelated equipment and various employee training fees.
The BAI also found that officials from the state-run bodies charged for the money they spent on pricey bars and karaoke ― which amounted to 119 million won from 2010-2013 ― as part of R&D funding.
By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)
