A senior official and a construction broker are behind bars over allegations that they colluded to inflate costs associated with the relocation of the presidential office to Yongsan from the Cheong Wa Dae compound.

Citing flight risks, the Seoul Central District Court issued pretrial detention warrants on Thursday for the Presidential Security Service official, surnamed Jeong, and the broker, surnamed Kim, who face bribery and fraud charges. 

In October last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection(BAI) asked the prosecution to investigate evidence that the company that installed bulletproof windows at the new presidential office had submitted a false estimate inflating the construction costs. 
 
Jeong, who supervised the construction, named Kim, one of his acquaintances, as the project manager in March 2022, and Kim arranged a two-point-04 billion won contract with the Presidential Security Service and the interior ministry.

According to the BAI, Kim created a shell company and inflated the cost of installing bulletproof glass windows in the top office and the official presidential residence.

The state auditor determined that the actual cost was around 470 million won, and it accused Kim of pocketing the difference.