It has been revealed that behind the fire accident at the Banyan Tree Resort in Busan, which left 6 dead, there were corruption issues related to permits involving bribery and coercion. Evidence has come to light indicating that bribes were exchanged between the construction company and Busan's Gijang-gun office during the approval process.
The Busan police's criminal mobile unit held a briefing on the morning of the 8th, announcing that the resort received its occupancy permit on December 19th last year while still under construction. Police explained that unlawful conduct by local fire officials and Gijang-gun office staff was uncovered during this process.
The fire occurred at around 10:51 a.m. on February 14th near the Banyan Tree Haeundae Busan construction site in the Osiria Tourist Complex in Gijang-gun, Busan. As a result of the incident, 6 workers died and 4 suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation. It was confirmed that safety management was neglected during the pipe cutting and welding processes.
The police have been investigating the newly constructed Banyan Tree Haeundae Busan site, noting that large-scale construction was ongoing at a building that had completed its occupancy permit.
According to the police, the construction company, Samjeong Enterprise, and the development company were aware that the resort's construction progress was insufficient for occupancy approval, yet attempted to coerce and pressure the inspection company officials to prevent economic losses. They also provided bribes to have false completion inspection reports created and submitted to public offices. As a result, on December 19th last year, the Gijang-gun office and fire officials approved the occupancy permit for the unfinished building.
In particular, the development company had entered into agreements for several billion won in project financing loans conditioned on completing construction by November 27th, 2024. However, as the progress rate rose slowly, they requested a construction delay until December 20th, about a month later. This prompted extensive lobbying of officials who had control over the permits from public offices, given that they had to repay the remaining debt immediately.
The police stated that during this process, the development company and construction company promised to provide bribes in exchange for the submission of the 'fire safety inspection report' by the firefighting staff of the inspection company, along with handing over cash amounting to several tens of millions of won. The development company also provided high-end hotel meal vouchers to officials from related agencies, including the Gijang-gun office. The police confirmed that some of these were actually used.
Officials from the Gijang-gun office and fire department maintain that they 'processed the occupancy permit legally.' They are reported to deny the allegations.
The police have arrested 2 individuals, including an executive from the development company and the fire staff from the inspection company, on charges of violating the building law. A total of 29 accomplices have been booked without detention. The chairman of Samjeong Enterprise, Park Jeong-o, and 5 others have been arrested on charges of violating the Serious Accident Punishment Act last month.