Civil servants face tougher wealth scrutiny

By Kim Hyo-jin

Lawmakers are seeking to strengthen audit of senior public officials’ property in a move to uproot corruption in the public sector, according to party officials, Wednesday.

They vowed to revise the Public Service Ethics Act that regulates the inspection of assets of high-level public officials, arguing that it is too lax to function as a reliable measure for monitoring corruption and irregularities.

Rep. Kim Young-joo of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) plans to require senior officials to report details of their assets’ growth. She is preparing to introduce a revision bill by the end of August.

Rep. Kim Kwan-young, the deputy floor leader of the minor opposition People’s Party, is also working on a bill that would oblige parents and children of senior officials to disclose their assets, arguing familial ownership has been abused as a route to evade asset inspection.

The current act requires high-level public officials to report the amount of their financial assets and properties quarterly. All top officials, including ministers, local government heads and presidential secretaries, are required to disclose such information to the public, but their lineal ascendants and descendants do not, unless the officials support them financially.

The Public Official Ethics Commission checks on whether senior officials report their assets accurately, but whether or not they probe into the officials’ asset growth is left at their discretion.

Lawmakers point out that such loopholes have enabled top officials to easily hide properties accumulated by illegal practices.

“We can’t just rely on letting officials report their assets,” Kim Young-ju said. “Only a close look into how public officials increase their assets can prevent them from turning to illicit practices for growing their wealth.”

The legislative move was propelled by a series of corruption scandals involving senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon. Jin was arrested on charges of taking bribes from online game maker Nexon last month. He allegedly made some 12 billion won ($10.5 million) by illicitly trading his Nexon shares.

But their financial transaction was not detected, as it was done through Jin’s mother and mother-in-law. Thus, although Jin has reported his Nexon shares to the commission since 2005, the commission did not find any issue.

Rep. Kim Young-ju said the envisioned bill also intends to strengthen penalties if officials do not clearly report information on their asset growth. The content of the violation should be open to the public, she also said.

Lee Yoon-hwan, a law professor at Konyang University, showed support for the legislative move, stressing the need to strengthen the current rules on the asset reporting system.

“There have been calls for closer audit of public officials’ assets, as the existing rules have allowed top officials to accumulate assets through corrupt behavior,” Lee said.

“Within a set period like two to three years, they should be requested to explain how the assets increased in detail. (The bill) will limit officials’ property rights to a certain level, as they are officials serving the public interest.”