No tolerance for corruption

Bill needed to tackle wrongs by powerful figures

The ruling Saenuri Party has announced a plan to legislate a law aimed at rooting out corruption by the president’s relatives, aides and top government officials.

The proposed bill is seen as an effort by Park Geun-hye, the governing party’s presidential nominee, to block the root cause of bribery and influence-peddling involving those in power.

The move comes in response to a string of high-profile graft scandals that have been the norm in the governments so far. In the current Lee Myung-bak administration, an elder brother of the President and several of his key aides have been jailed for their involvement in various corruption scandals.

The proposal calls for creating an independent body to conduct special inspections on the president’s relatives and political bigwigs. The National Assembly would recommend a special inspector to oversee the body’s activities. The inspector would serve three years and be prohibited from taking public office after retirement while the president who appointed him or her is in office.

Those subject to the special surveillance would be relatives and close aides of the president and some high-ranking government officials such as Cabinet ministers and the chiefs of the National Intelligence Service, the National Tax Service, the National Police Agency and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. The proposal makes it possible for the special inspector to add other officials to the list.

The special body would be given the authority to carry out onsite inspections and access bank accounts and phone call records. Anyone on the list would be prohibited from accepting money or rewards and punished by law if found accepting payment for favors or influence-peddling.

The proposal envisions zero tolerance for any wrongdoings and influence-peddling is banned across the board regardless of bribe taking. Those convicted will be excluded from eligibility for a presidential pardon.

It is a belated but necessary measure, given that every president begins with pledges to be free of corruption but ends with apologies for bribery scandals involving his relatives and key aides. Politicians should know that people want irregularities implicating political heavyweights to be eradicated for good.

Therefore, it’s actions, not words, that are important. However, the prospect for this legislation is not too bright because rival parties are poised to clash over the matter. While the proposal was made by the governing party, the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) has already pledged to create an independent unit to investigate high-ranking officials.

Legally, the special inspector has no investigative rights, whereas the DUP’s unit would have the authority to launch investigations independent of the state prosecution. The Saenuri Party reportedly plans to introduce a permanent independent counsel system soon.

It’s unclear whether the ruling and opposition parties will be able to narrow their differences to find a compromise on this matter. But what’s important is to establish an institutional framework to root out corruption by those in power, hopefully before the Dec. 19 presidential election. <The Korea Times>

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