By Nam Hyun-woo
Legislators of the ruling and opposition parties are seeking to pass a slew of bills in the National Assembly that would restrict the issuance of special pardons and other privileges to owners of large conglomerates and relatives of presidents.
Nearly 17 bills proposing revisions to the laws governing special pardons have been proposed.
Rep. Oh Je-se of the main opposition Democratic United Party, said, “As previous presidents indiscreetly granted special pardons to chaebol who committed major financial crimes such as tax evasion, embezzlement and accounting fraud, a social misconception is that the power of the ‘all mighty dollar’ prevails.”
The lawmakers are seeking to pass the bills by the end of the month.
Rep. Park Young-sun, chairwoman of the legislation committee, expects the bills to be passed during the April session of the parliament.
The move to revise the laws came after former President Lee Myung-bak granted special pardons to his close aides, which drew a strong public backlash.
At the time, then presidential candidate Park Geun-hye also denounced these saying, “President Lee himself should take responsibility for the pardons.”
Meanwhile, some voiced concerns that the bill uniformly prohibits special pardons for those who have committed financial crimes without weighing the gravity of their offenses.
“The bills might also restrict pardons for self-employed or small and medium-sized enterprises officials, which goes against the purpose of restricting indiscreet special pardons,” said a member of the committee.
For corporate crimes, every criminal should serve at least two thirds of their term to acquire a special pardon and those on probation periods or have not paid fines should be exempted from early release.