10 sponsored prosecutors face harsh punishment
By Park Si-soo
Staff reporter
A fact-finding committee proposed Wednesday that the head of the prosecution take serious punitive action against 10 prosecutors implicated in bribe-taking and other corrupt activities "sponsored" by a businessman.
The committee, comprised of nine people from civic groups and the prosecution, asked Prosecutor General Kim Joon-gyu to overhaul his organization and come up with steps to prevent the recurrence of corruption.
It also demanded that Kim deny promotions to seven other prosecutors, and give warnings to 28, whose violations are relatively minor.
Park Ki-joon, chief prosecutor at the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, and Han Seung-chul, a former chief inspector for the prosecution, were among the 10.
Announcing the result of its investigation into 100 former and incumbent "sponsored prosecutors," the committee found that dozens of them had received favors, but concluded that any "irregular behavior" was not serious enough to be prosecuted. It said the businessman, a small construction firm owner based in Busan, did not provide the sponsorship in exchange for influence-peddling.
Prosecutor General Kim will determine the punishments to be meted out.
"It's regrettable and disappointing that some prosecutors were confirmed to have received bribes, ignoring their responsibility for upholding social justice and combating corruption," said Prof. Sung Nak-in of Seoul National University, head of the committee, at a press briefing.
The investigation was opened on April 23, one day after MBC TV's investigative journal "PD Notebook" reported that more than 100 prosecutors in South Gyeongsang Province had received money and sexual entertainment paid for by the businessman for over 20 years.
The businessman made the allegations as the "sponsored prosecutors" did not protect him when he faced in legal problems.
The inquiry lasted for 50 days with more than 150 people implicated in the scandal being questioned.
But the committee head admitted the investigation had not fully unearthed the truth because of the businessman's refusal to cooperate.
"One regrettable thing is that we couldn't question the sponsor and sponsored prosecutors together due to the former's refusal to do so," Sung said. "He actively cooperated in the early stages of the investigation. But he stayed tight-lipped from mid-May when politicians moved to introduce a special prosecutor for the case. In this situation, we did our best with the resources available."
A discussion over the introduction of a special prosecutor was put on hold amid escalating inter-Korean tension caused by the sinking of a South Korean warship by North Korea.
Critics say the latest scandal has disclosed the dark side of the current prosecution system that gives prosecutors the exclusive right to send cases to court and allows them a greater say in criminal investigations.
Amid growing calls for decentralizing their authority, President Lee Myung-bak recently showed his determination to revamp the current system, garnering bipartisan support. One of the measures considered is establishing a standing independent counsel targeting corruption among high-ranking officials and law-enforcement authorities.
But, in a public speech last month, Prosecutor General Kim openly expressed his objection to the idea, saying "the prosecution should not be subject to investigations for corruption, but be an entity that leads the investigation."