Anti-Corruption Commission to Inspect Local Government Officials for Conflict of Interest Violations Starting December

Frequent Occurrences of Direct Relatives of Local Assembly Members Receiving Sole-Source Contracts

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on the 30th that starting next month, it will inspect the actual conditions of irregular contracts, where misconduct by local government officials frequently occurs.

There have been cases in a considerable number of local governments where contracts are signed with restricted parties for irregular contracts, such as family members of council members. This is a violation of the 'Local Contract Act.'

It was also found problematic that many local council members serve as committee members of executive agencies related to their standing committees, raising significant conflict of interest concerns.

According to the 'Code of Conduct for Local Council Members,' when local council members serve as committee members of various committees of the local government executive agencies, they must avoid deliberation and resolution if it is directly related to the duties of their standing committee.

It was also pointed out that management is insufficient, such as local council members failing to report concurrent positions as public institution executives or cooperative executives, or not verifying the reported information.

The 'Local Autonomy Act' prohibits concurrent positions, and even if allowed, requires reporting to the chairperson, which was violated.

Accordingly, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission judged that proactive measures are necessary to establish public ethics among local officials in line with public expectations and to secure public trust in local governments.

Going forward, they plan to improve corrupt practices through inspections of corruption-prone areas in local governments.

They plan to focus inspections on institutions with inadequate integrity measurement and anti-corruption policy evaluations, institutions without enacted codes of conduct ordinances, and institutions where misconduct has occurred.

A Commission official explained, "This inspection is being conducted as part of next year's focused inspection of corruption-prone areas in local governments and the preparation of comprehensive institutional improvement measures."

For violations confirmed through the inspection, necessary actions such as notifying violations of the code of conduct, immediate corrective measures, and devising improvement plans will be taken.

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