18.82 Million Won Embezzled in KOICA’s Rwanda Training Program via Inflated Instructor Fees

It was revealed that a planning company and an interpretation firm inflated instructor fees and service costs in a Rwanda government official training program funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), resulting in a total embezzlement of 18.82 million won. The two firms manipulated lecture fees and submitted claims for interpretation services related to lectures that were never held. KOICA recovered the misused funds in March and terminated the project contract.

An investigation into the full scope of the fraud uncovered systematic manipulation. Professor A, a cybersecurity expert, delivered a lecture on artificial intelligence at a training session held in Seoul on July 28 last year. He conducted only one lecture and received payment for that single session. However, when KOICA reviewed the fee settlement records, it was found that payment for two lectures had been recorded. Company B, which planned the lecture, intentionally inflated the instructor fee. Professor A stated, “The balance in my bank account differed from KOICA’s settlement records,” adding that fake documents for lectures that did not occur were also fabricated.

Professor A’s case was just the beginning. Company B manipulated the fees for a total of six instructors. Two of them received budget allocations under the guise of instructor fees despite never giving a single lecture. The remaining four instructors, though they gave only one lecture each, had their payments inflated to reflect two lectures. A total of 5.94 million won was embezzled through fake lecture fees.

Even more shocking was the actions of Company C. Claiming responsibility for lecture interpretation, Company C received 12.88 million won by billing for interpretation services related to lectures that never took place. In other words, they charged for services that did not exist and collected payment for them.

The key question is how these firms were able to win the contract for KOICA’s project. Company B and Company C participated in this training program bid jointly. Yet neither was a specialized lecture planning company. Company B was registered as a software development firm but had only three employees as of last year and was based in an apartment in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province. Company C was a company that sold office supplies. Firms with little to no expertise were tasked with handling international cooperation projects.

The process of selecting these firms also raised doubts. Since the recruitment of instructors was carried out under the joint name of Company B and Company C, some instructors suspected that they were essentially the same entity. It was confirmed that these firms conducted three more KOICA training programs in 2023. Kim Ho-gyun, a professor of public administration at Chonnam National University, said, “Procedures must be strengthened to ensure that low-quality and unqualified firms are thoroughly screened out during bidding processes. Systematic guidelines are needed—such as setting stricter requirements when issuing calls for bids to attract suitable firms and preventing bad actors from bidding in the first place.”

This training program is part of a three-year plan launched by South Korea in 2024 to support the development of Rwanda, a developing country. Rwandan government officials came to South Korea, a leader in information and communication technology, to receive software training. However, due to the fraud committed by the firms, they were forced to return after completing only half of the training. KOICA identified the misused funds through its own investigation in November last year and canceled the project contract, which was set to expire this year. KOICA requested explanations from the firms regarding the inflated budgets but has not yet received a response. The agency stated it will consider legal action, such as filing a police report, if no satisfactory explanation is provided.