Executives and unionized workers at GM Korea, a local subsidiary of General Motors, are to face trials for allegedly receiving bribes in exchange of offering permanent jobs to contract workers.

Prosecutors in Incheon, west of Seoul, on Tuesday said they have indicted five former and current senior employees at GM Korea, as well as 17 former and incumbent labor representatives. Leaders at GM Korea‘s labor union are accused to have received tens of millions of won from contract workers who wanted to take regular positions at the carmaker. They delivered the list of contract workers who offered bribes to executives at GM Korea whom they maintained a cozy relationship with, the prosecutors said. GM officials then allegedly ordered their juniors to temper with the candidates’ school grades to make them qualified for the jobs, according to prosecution.

Of the 346 workers hired through non-regular recruitment processes between 2012 and 2016, 35.5 percent or 123, were found by the prosecutors to have had their scores fixed for securing regular job positions.

Between 2014 and 2015, 70 percent were allegedly hired by offering money.

Unlike contract workers, regular workers in Korea enjoy job security, as well as larger incomes. Regular workers can also receive various benefits such as school expenses.

In return, two GM executives in charge of labor relations, are suspected of receiving 4.5 million won ($3,900) in total in September 2015, while labor representatives are suspected of pocketing at least 4 million to 330 million won. The prosecution said they discovered 400 million won in cash wrapped by newspapers in a toilet ceiling of the residence of a former labor representative surnamed Chung. Another 50 million won was found in his car, the prosecution said.

Rep. Ha Tae-kyung of the Bareun Party on Wednesday denounced unionized workers at GM Korea, calling the organization a criminal body. The lawmaker said, via his Facebook page, that he would open a parliamentary hearing on the case, calling GM labor union a group of people who exploited contract workers.

In response, GM Korea vowed to eradicate corruptive practices, saying that as an American firm, GM Korea is obliged to follow “strong” internal measures.

“GM Korea will thoroughly review the findings of the IPO’s investigation announced on Feb. 7. It is regretful that some of our employees have been involved in this misconduct,” the company said in a statement.

“We will continue to further strengthen our internal process and take appropriate measures so that these types of misconduct do not happen again.”

GM Korea is being led by James Kim, a Korean-American CEO who started his post last year.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)