SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) -- The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) apologized Friday after one of its commissioners was indicted on charges connected to the 2022 project to move the presidential office to Seoul's Yongsan district when ousted President Yoon Seok Yeol was in office.

Ryou Byeong-ho, one of the audit agency's seven commissioners, was indicted while under arrest earlier in the day on charges that he unfairly interfered with an audit into the relocation project in an attempt to cover up results when he was serving as the agency's secretary general.

Noting that Ryou is the BAI's first sitting commissioner ever to be indicted, the agency said in a statement that it "feels a grave responsibility, beyond a mere apology, for causing concern to the people about the BAI's independence and the fairness, objectivity and neutrality of audits."

The agency said it will use the incident as a turning point to deeply reflect on itself and "make every effort to be reborn as an organization that unwaveringly carries out duties given under the Constitution and the law.

Following Yoon's removal from office over his failed martial law bid, President Lee Jae Myung took office and moved the presidential office back to Cheong Wa Dae, a sprawling complex that had served as the top office since South Korea was formally established in 1948.

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