"The club forged contract - falsified contract, and the difference is 1.4 billion."

Yoo Jeong-joo, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a press conference at the National Assembly's communications hall in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the 23rd and claimed that "a number of suspected cases were found in the process of signing an FA contract."

Citing the case of former KIA general manager Jang Jung-seok in March, Yoo said, "The truth of Korean baseball's FA back-up transaction was revealed as it was revealed that Jang Jung-seok demanded back-up money," adding, "KBO and the club are not following baseball rules that must be followed thoroughly."

Rep. Yoo also pointed out KBO's poor management. Representative Yoo said, "FA players write a unification contract with the club, and the club submits it to the KBO president. However, many of the FA contracts kept by KBO are different from the contents of the KBO yearbook, he argued.

"There is a difference between the official announcement and the contract in terms of the total amount and options, from as much as 1.4 billion won to as little as 50 million won. In some contracts, the player's signature and handwriting were completely different, he said. "This seems to have been intentionally forged and altered the FA contract by a club official." On top of that, KBO also did not closely examine the falsely written contract, he said.

Rep. Yoo also mentioned in detail the case where a club official secretly pocketed some of the amount of the FA contract. In particular, he revealed the name of the team. Lawmaker Yoo said, "Player A, who signed an FA contract with the SK Wyverns (the predecessor of SSG Landers), learned through a police investigation that a club official pocketed back money related to his FA contract.

Lawyer Kang Yoon-kyung, the legal representative of the mentioned player A, also said at the same meeting, "Player A did not ask for or receive back money from club officials. However, he explained, "I was suspected by the police because of the self-funded money of the club official."

"Player A was unfairly branded as a 'bad player who gave back money.' SK revealed that player A's contract submitted to KBO was falsely written.

According to lawyer Kang's contents, player A's actual down payment, salary, and options from the SK club are known to be very different from those of the contract kept by KBO. Lawyer Kang claimed, "If a contract is written by someone without the player's knowledge, it is a crime that constitutes 'forgery of private documents'."

In addition, lawyer Kang said, "I asked SSG to confirm the contract of player A. However, the club gave an unconventional answer that if player A showed the contract first, the club would also show it, he said.

In response, Rep. Yoo said, "If a team official asks for back money from a player or creates secret back money, it is a professional baseball FA back money scandal," adding, "A full investigation into the FA contract is needed." He also claimed that institutional arrangements should be in place.

In this regard, SSG and KBO President Heo Gu-yeon will serve as witnesses in the parliamentary audit and refute concretely. Earlier, after Yoo's press conference, the SSG club refuted, saying, "I only asked the KBO to investigate the truth, and I understand that it was concluded to be innocent at the time."

Meanwhile, the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee will hold a parliamentary audit on the 24th to call in KBO President Heo Gu-yeon as a witness to inquire about the transaction of FA contracts and KBO's poor management of FA contracts.