Yong Hye-in, nominee for Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, was reported to police over allegations that the Basic Income Party to which she belongs operated "ghost" city and provincial chapters.
The crux of the allegation is that some city and provincial chapters of the Basic Income Party kept their party registrations by listing addresses at apartments or farms and unjustly received operating expenses that included state subsidies. The Basic Income Party countered that this is false.
The civic group Committee for the People's Livelihood (Seominwi) said on the 9th that it filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency accusing nominee Yong of abuse of authority, violation of the Political Parties Act, fraud, breach of trust, and violation of the Public Official Election Act.
Through the complaint, Seominwi said, "It is a reasonable suspicion that 6 out of 10 city and provincial chapters of the Basic Income Party registered addresses at apartments, dwellings, and farms where conducting official party activities is impossible, in order to take state subsidies," and argued, "This constitutes abuse of authority, violation of the Political Parties Act, fraud, and breach of trust."
According to the office of Kim Jung-jae of the People Power Party and others, the office addresses of 6 out of 10 Basic Income Party city and provincial chapters turned out to be at apartments or farms. The South Gyeongsang provincial chapter and the Busan and Incheon city chapters were based in private apartments, and the Gwangju-South Jeolla provincial chapter in dwellings. The South Chungcheong and North Jeolla provincial chapters were reportedly registered at farms owned by their respective provincial chapter chairs.
It is not a problem in itself if a city or provincial chapter's address is a dwelling or a farm, but suspicions have been raised that the Basic Income Party falsely registered chapters to meet legal requirements.
The Basic Income Party said the allegation of operating ghost city and provincial chapters is not true. Spokespersons Noh Seo-young, Shin Ji-hye, and Kim Jin-seo of the Basic Income Party held a press conference at the National Assembly communication center that day and said, "Demeaning us by claiming we created fake city and provincial chapters to receive subsidies belittles the party's history of working hard to strengthen our organization."
They added that not a single Basic Income Party city or provincial chapter had been deemed by any city or provincial election commission to lack registration requirements.
The Basic Income Party spokespersons also said, "The roughly 150 million won disbursed to city and provincial chapters this year came entirely from Basic Income Party dues and donations from our supporters' association," adding, "The claim that this was paid as general subsidies is false."