Two businessmen have been indicted on charges of corruption linked to a faulty Navy ship that failed to participate in the national rescue operation for April’s deadly ferry disaster, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The two heads of local parts suppliers are suspected of giving bribes to a retired military official to have their equipment be used in building the country’s first homegrown salvage ship, Tongyeong.
The military completed the Tongyeong with local shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in 2012, but has refused to commandeer the vessel due to its insufficient sonar system and a defective vehicle meant to scale underwater structures.
As a result, the ship failed to participate in the all-out rescue efforts that followed the April 16 ferry tragedy, in which more than 300 passengers died in a capsized ferry off southwestern waters. Most of the victims were high school students on a field trip.
Prosecutors launched an investigation in May to find out why the 3,500-ton rescue vessel could not be used when it was most needed.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said one of the suspects, the head of a local supplier, surnamed Kim, is suspected of paying 500 million won in kickbacks to the retired official, surnamed Choi, to have his company’s salvage equipment chosen for the project.
Choi worked at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and chose the supplier of the systems for Tongyeong in 2011.
The retired official was indicted last month on charges of fabricating the evaluation results of the parts supplied by the two suspects.
The other suspect, also surnamed Kim, is under suspicion of giving bribes worth 200 million won to Choi so that his firm’s sonar system would be selected. (Yonhap)
