People Power Party Judiciary Committee: "Details of Choo's Special Activity Fund Usage Must Be Clearly Revealed"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Members of the People Power Party's Legislation and Judiciary Committee criticized Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's order to audit Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's 'special activity funds (teukhwalbi),' stating that "the audit order is illegal" and demanding that "Minister Choo's own special activity fund details must be transparently disclosed."

All members of the People Power Party's Legislation and Judiciary Committee stated in a morning press release on the 9th, "The Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department assists the Prosecutor General in exercising disciplinary authority over prosecutors, not the Minister of Justice," emphasizing this point.

The committee members pointed out that under the Prosecutors' Office Act, the Prosecutor General is not subject to inspection by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department, criticizing, "Despite this regulation, Minister Choo's order for the Ministry of Justice's inspection body, rather than the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department, to audit Prosecutor General Yoon is a clear overreach, abuse of authority, illegality, and criminal act."

They also rebutted the criticism from Minister Choo and the ruling party that "Prosecutor General Yoon is not providing special activity funds to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office," calling it "a clear falsehood and a slanderous political attack," stating, "The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office currently receives an average of 80 million to 100 million KRW per month in special activity funds from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, which is a larger amount than the combined special activity funds allocated to other regional prosecutors' offices such as Seoul Eastern, Southern, Northern, Western Districts, and metropolitan area offices including Uijeongbu, Incheon, and Suwon." Previously, Minister Choo had said, 'The Central District Prosecutors' Office has not received special activity funds recently, causing difficulties for the investigation team,' and 'The Prosecutor General is using the special activity funds as his personal petty cash.'

They criticized, "The ruling party went further to make a low-level political attack suggesting that the special activity funds might be used as political funds by Prosecutor General Yoon," adding, "If the special activity funds were not provided to prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, an investigation should be conducted into whether Chief Prosecutor Lee Sung-yoon misappropriated the funds as his personal petty cash."

The committee members emphasized, "Since multiple media reports have indicated that 'the Cho Kuk trial team reportedly never received special activity funds,' verification of whether Chief Prosecutor Lee Sung-yoon selectively allocated the special activity funds with bias should be prioritized," and pointed out, "The ruling party must also cooperate to ensure a transparent and equitable investigation into the Minister of Justice, who is allocated special activity funds worth between 1 billion and 2 billion KRW annually."

They criticized, "In 2020, while approximately 10,500 employees of the Prosecutors' Office received 8.4 billion KRW in special activity funds, a large sum was also paid to only about 670 Ministry of Justice employees, raising questions about whether these funds are being used appropriately," and added, "It must be thoroughly revealed this time whether the Ministry of Justice's special activity funds are being treated as petty cash or slush funds by some executives and used as discretionary handouts."

The committee members also pointed out that Minister Choo had previously used political donation funds for family meals and refueling at a gas station on the day her son graduated from the Nonsan Training Center, falsely recording the purpose as 'lawmakers' meeting,' warning, "If it is revealed that special activity funds, like Minister Choo's political donation funds, were used in violation of the legal guidelines for special activity fund execution by unauthorized persons for information or investigative activities, appropriate punishment and accountability must be expected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.