Suspicions of free agent contract kickbacks have emerged again. This time, the story is that the club forged and altered the contract.
Yoo Jeong-ju, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Center located in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the 23rd and claimed, “We have discovered many cases where club officials are suspected of taking bribes during the process of signing FA contracts.”토토사이트
Representative Yoo then cited the case of former KIA general manager Jang Jeong-seok last March as an example, saying, “As it was revealed that general manager Jang Jeong-seok had requested kickbacks, the true nature of Korean baseball’s FA kickback transactions was revealed,” adding, “It is a baseball policy that the KBO and the club must strictly protect.” “The rules are not being followed,” he added.
Rep. Yoo also pointed out the KBO’s poor management. Rep. Yoo argued, “FA players write a unified contract with the club, and the club submits it to the KBO president. However, among the FA contracts kept by the KBO, there are many that are different from the contents of the KBO yearbook.”
He continued, “There is a difference between the official announcement and the contract details in terms of total amount and options ranging from as much as 1.4 billion won to as little as 50 million won. In some contracts, it was also discovered that the player’s signature and handwriting were completely different.” “It appears that the contract was intentionally forged and altered. In addition, the KBO also did not closely review the falsified contract,” he said.
Rep. Yoo also mentioned in detail a case where a club official secretly pocketed a portion of the money from the FA contract. He even revealed the name of the club. Rep. Yoo said, “Player A, who signed a free agent contract with SK Wyverns (the predecessor of SSG Landers), learned through a police investigation that a club official took bribes in connection with his free agent contract.”
Attorney Kang Yun-kyung, the legal representative of the mentioned player A, also explained at the same meeting, “Player A did not ask for or receive kickbacks from club officials. However, he was suspected by the police because of the club officials’ own kickbacks.”
He then revealed, “Player A was unfairly labeled as a ‘bad player who gave kickbacks’. Player A’s contract submitted by SK to the KBO was falsified.”
According to Attorney Kang, the actual contract deposit, annual salary, and options that Player A received from the SK club are known to be very different from the contents of the contract kept by the KBO. Attorney Kang argued, “If the contract was written by someone without the player’s knowledge, it is a crime equivalent to ‘forgery of a private document.’”
Attorney Kang also said, “We asked SSG to check the contract of player A held by the SSG club. However, the club gave an unreasonable response saying that if player A shows the contract first, the club will also show it.”
In response, Rep. Yoo said, “If a team official requested a kickback from a player or made a secret kickback, this is a professional baseball FA kickback scandal,” and added, “There is a need for a full investigation into FA contracts. Also, an institutional mechanism must be established.” .
In relation to this, SSG and KBO President Heo Heo-yeon plan to appear as witnesses in the government audit and provide a detailed rebuttal. After Rep. Yoo’s press conference, the SSG team refuted, saying, “Not only did we request an investigation into the truth from the KBO, but as far as I know, it was concluded that he was not guilty.”
Meanwhile, the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee plans to hold a government audit on the 24th and call KBO President Heo Heo-yeon as a witness to question the issue of free agent contract kickback transactions and the KBO’s poor management of free agent contracts.