By Jung Min-ho
Prosecutors searched the nation’s financial regulator, Friday, following the state auditor’s findings that the regulatory agency irregularly hired at least 16 applicants last year based on their connections with politicians and bankers.
According to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, it searched the headquarters of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Yeouido, southern Seoul.
Three ranking FSS officials, including Senior Deputy Governor Seo Tae-jong, are suspected of conspiring in weeding out more qualified applicants to secure spots for the 16.
Their homes have also been searched.
It is unclear what they received in return, which is now under investigation.
On Wednesday, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) disclosed the inspection results, accusing the three executives of giving special favors to certain job candidates. The state auditor said the hiring was “not the result of mistakes or errors, but from orders of senior officials.”
In the process of helping the 16, HR officials fabricated documents and added new evaluation items allegedly at the executives’ orders.
One of the executives, surnamed Lee, participated in interviews as one of the interviewers to make sure the 16 made the final cut.
With stability and high salaries, jobs at the FSS are considered prestigious and difficult to get.
This is not the first time the FSS has been embroiled in such a scandal. In 2014, two high-ranking officials ― Kim Soo-il and Lee Sang-koo ― pulled strings to hire a former lawmaker’s son as an FSS lawyer. Last week, the Seoul Southern District Court sentenced them to one-year and 10-month prison sentences, respectively.
Recent disclosures also show the FSS is just one of many state organizations that was involved in such malpractices during the right-wing Park Geun-hye government.
Earlier this month, casino operator Kangwon Land admitted almost everyone they hired there between 2012 and 2013 got the job thanks to their ties with powerful people.
The state company said it hired 518 people under Choi Heung-jip, former CEO between July 2011 and February 2014, and 493 of them (95 percent) ended up with jobs thanks to their connections with lawmakers, including Kweon Seong-dong and Lee Jung-hyun of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, high-ranking government officials and the CEO.