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Auditors Trace Hwang's Fund
[February 05, 2006]

Auditors Trace Hwang's Fund


(Korea Times Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)By Kim Tong-hyung

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) will Monday announce the results of its probe into now-disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who is suspected of embezzling state research funds.

The state inspection board's conclusions are expected to have a major influence on the prosecution's ongoing criminal investigation into the disgraced expert, whose studies on cloned human stem cells were recently exposed as fake.

Hwang could be indicted on charges of fraud or embezzlement, should it be confirmed that he received state funding for his works based on false accomplishments.

The BAI had been looking into Hwang's financial records and also summoned Hwang last month to question him over allegations that he used government funds for unauthorized purposes.

The inspection body last week also summoned Park Ky-young, former presidential advisor for science and technology, who recently admitted receiving 250 million won from Hwang on two separate research assignments before becoming a presidential aide.



According to the BAI, the inspection body has gathered enough evidence to indicate that Hwang privately used some state funds and civilian donations that were intended for his research, finding that a significant proportion of the money was transferred and kept in Hwang's private bank account.

Among the revealed charges, Hwang allegedly used $50,000 of his research funds to pay two of his former colleagues staying in the United States late last year, after the local media first reported on the suspicions surrounding his work.


Critics have been questioning why the government funded Hwang's research activities while failing to properly monitor them. According to the BAI, the government spent about 43 billion won ($44 million) from 1998 to 2005 to finance Hwang's studies, including research funds and the construction of laboratories.

On Sunday, prosecutors summoned Park Jong-hyuk, a co-author of Hwang's 2004 paper who is now with the University of Pittsburgh, to question his role in fabricating the experiments. Park returned to South Korea Saturday at the request of the prosecutors.

Investigators are also expected to summon Hwang's key colleagues in the coming week, including Kim Sun-jong, a co-author of the 2005 paper who became among the first of Hwang's collaborators to admit the fabrication of research data in a television interview late last year.

Although his key accomplishments have been discredited, Hwang seems to have a quite a number of believers among the general public.

A 59-year-old Korean man, identified as Chung, committed suicide Saturday by setting himself on fire in downtown Seoul, shortly after distributing leaflets calling for the government to allow Hwang to resume his research work.

More than 3,000 people showed up at a rally to call for Hwang's reinstatement in Kwanghwamun, downtown Seoul, Saturday.

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