Internal documents from the mobile communications company KTF just released by Grand National Party (GNP) member Kwon Youngse are a plain example of the all out roundabout lobbying tactics of the industry as a whole. In them you find specific details about how KTF illegally sought to have tax audits postponed and avoid various regulations.
For example, one 2004 document records how the company successfully fought off various inquiries and regulations with various "lobbying" offensives. By appearances, there is something of a connection between how a tax audit scheduled for 2003 was delayed a full year and the fact the company spent a huge amount of money on special event expenses. The Fair Trade Commission, the National Tax Service, and the Ministry of Information and Communication – each mentioned in the documents - are all saying there is no basis for them to be held suspect and that everything was done according to the law.
KTF's explanation is that its working-level people exaggerated their accomplishments ironically proves that the company at least attempted to illegally influence vents. And you wonder whether the National Tax Service is always so accommodating towards requests for deferments on tax audits.
Also revealed in the documents is the fact that KTF has long kept track of people and groups who influence the telecommunications market, from government regulatory officials to academics and civic groups. It even operated a program in which it did things for people of influence on their birthdays and wedding anniversaries.
Wherever there are regulations there are going to be operations to neutralize them, and telecommunications companies are so obsessed with their lobbying campaigns precisely because every policy and regulation means the difference in hundreds of billions in sales. They say those that are subsidiaries to conglomerates do it at a whole different level. This latest controversy must not be put behind us with simple internal reviews by the government agencies that have been named. There needs to be a strict inquiry, at a higher government level, of whether agencies were proper with their procedures and whether or not there were any illegal favors or bribes exchanged.
The Hankyoreh, 20 February 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] KTF Alone in Suspicious 'Lobbying'? |
