The enthusiasm over Kia Motor Corporations announcement of their new plant in West Point, Georgia was tempered today with the planned groundbreaking ceremony be postponed due to a potential bribery scandal. Kia  is being investigated in South Korea of maintaining a slush fund to bribe  politicians. There is no indication any Georgian politicians are involved or risk to the plant being built in Georgia.

Kia Motors Corp. has asked Georgia officials to delay the groundbreaking ceremony for its new plant in West Point — a decision that comes amid a bribery scandal involving Kia and its parent, Hyundai Motor Co.

Georgia officials insisted they are not worried about the status of the $1.2 billion Kia plant, the state’s biggest economic coup in years. But Kia officials have put off an April 26 West Point ceremony to cut the ribbon on the plant’s construction, a state spokesman said.

Officials have not set a new date for the event.

“We have asked, ‘Should we be concerned?’ And they have told us ‘No,’” said Bert Brantley, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “The company asked us to delay the ceremony and we asked, ‘Does this mean delay the project?’ They said, ‘No, just delay the ceremony.’”

Hyundai is suspected in South Korea of having raised slush funds through its affiliates — including its logistics unit Glovis Co., which has key operations in Georgia — to bribe politicians and bureaucrats for business favors in past years, the Korea Times reported.  via ajc.com.

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