"Ministry of Justice Special Activity Fund Payment is Embezzlement"…Civic Group Files Prosecution Complaint Against Minister Chu

Claim of National Treasury Loss over Special Activity Fund Allocation from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to the Ministry of Justice's Prosecution Bureau

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[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae has been accused by the prosecution in connection with the controversy over the misuse of special activity funds by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

The Action Alliance for Establishing the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon) announced on the Supreme Prosecutors' Office website on the 10th that they have accused Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and Shim Jae-cheol, Director of the Prosecutor's Office at the Ministry of Justice, of the crime of public fund loss.

Beopse-ryeon stated, "Special activity funds must be strictly used within the scope of the institution's purpose, such as being paid to the actual performers of special activities as needed," and added, "The Ministry of Justice arbitrarily embezzled about 1 billion won from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's special activity funds and paid it as operating expenses for the Correction Headquarters and other departments unrelated to confidential information and case investigations, which clearly constitutes embezzlement."

They continued, "Minister Choo is the final approver of the Ministry of Justice's budget execution by law, and Director Shim is in charge of the prosecution's budget, so ultimately Minister Choo and Director Shim conspired to commit the crime of public fund loss."

They also said, "The Ministry of Justice explained that unlike the previous minister, special activity funds were not allocated to Minister Choo, so she did not use the funds, but they claim innocence without presenting concrete evidence," adding, "Even if it is true that the funds were not allocated, some of the 1 billion won in the Prosecutor's Office's special activity funds may have been used by Minister Choo, so a thorough investigation is needed to uncover the truth."

Earlier, Minister Choo raised suspicions that "(Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-ryeol) uses the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's special activity funds like pocket money," and the People Power Party revealed circumstances that some of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's special activity budget flowed into the Ministry of Justice's Inspection Bureau.

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