A former naval chief was summoned Tuesday for questioning over his alleged involvement in the graft scandal related to the country's indigenous salvage ship, investigators and military officers said.
The retired admiral, Hwang Ki-chul, is suspected of turning a blind eye to alleged corruption by his subordinates in 2009 over the selection of a winning bidder for the domestically built salvage ship Tongyeong, according to the investigators.
At that time, Hwang was in charge of the vessel project division at the country's arms procurement agency, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
"He allegedly approved documents his subordinates drew up after fabricating test results on faulty parts to equip the ship with," said an official of a pan-governmental task force in charge of investigating corruption in the defense industry.
The subordinates were arrested and indicted for taking bribes from a local firm that supplied sub-standard parts.
The prosecution is "reviewing seeking a warrant to arrest him for his role in writing the fake documents and breach of duty," another official said.
The 3,500-ton Tongyeong was found to be fraught with problems, which effectively prevented it from participating in rescue operations in a ferry tragedy in April 2014 that killed more than 300 people. The ship was delivered to the Navy the previous year after passing an operational capability test.
Looking into the case, the state audit agency, the Board of Audit and Inspection, asked the defense ministry in December to take punitive action against Hwang over the alleged corruption.
Two weeks later, Hwang offered to step down as chief of Naval Operations, and his resignation was accepted last month.
In 2012, South Korea launched the project to build the country's first home-grown next-generation salvage ship with a budget of 160 billion won ($154 million) in the wake of the sinking of its warship Cheonan by North Korea in 2010. It aimed to enable the military to effectively carry out rescue operations and tow away damaged vessels.
After the military lowered the requirements by postponing the installation of two faulty parts -- a remotely operated vehicle and hull mounted sonar, the Tongyeong was again put into service at the end of last year. (Yonhap)
