The Korea Land and Housing Corporation(LH) was found to have signed no-bid contracts worth more than 233 billion won during a three-year span with companies that contributed to the building design or supervision of parking garages lacking proper reinforcement at apartment complexes.

The revelation came on Monday in an analysis of data obtained from LH conducted by ruling People Power Party Rep. Park Jeong-ha, who is on the National Assembly’s Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee.

The analysis found that a total of 18 companies secured 77 no-bid contracts between June 2020 and June of this year to take part in designing and supervising 16 apartment complexes, including Incheon's Geomdan New Town, where an underground parking lot collapsed in April.

All of the firms had either been founded by former LH employees or have former employees on the payroll.

The Board of Audit and Inspection had raised the concerns about such contracts in June of last year.

Since the end of last month, LH has revealed that 20 underground garages at its complexes were either built with insufficient or no reinforcement bars in the concrete pillars, or were subject to poor installation.