Following Yoon Seok-yeol, Choi Jae-hyung Also Reports to the Corruption Investigation Office... Investigation Burden Expected to Increase

Choi Jae-hyung, the Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection and a potential presidential candidate from the opposition, is expressing his position to the press regarding his resignation and future plans as he arrives at the Board of Audit and Inspection in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 28th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA) will receive a complaint against Choi Jae-hyung, the Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, who is regarded as a leading presidential candidate, on the 28th. It is expected that an incident number will be assigned and the case will be registered soon thereafter.

Accordingly, as the HCIA investigates individuals who are likely to run as opposition presidential candidates one after another, it will be increasingly difficult to avoid controversies surrounding political neutrality.

The civic group "Citizens' Movement for Judicial Justice (Representative Kim Han-me)" filed a complaint with the HCIA against Chairman Choi in the afternoon on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

The group claimed that Chairman Choi "should fairly oversee government audit duties but instead conducted audits targeting the current administration, such as allegations of economic manipulation of Wolseong Unit 1, driven by his presidential ambitions." They also pointed out suspicions of irregular rehiring of retired employees from the Board of Audit and Inspection.

For the HCIA, which is also investigating former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, another presidential candidate, this situation is burdensome. Even with the investigation into former Prosecutor General Yoon facing criticism as a "clear election interference," if they start investigating Chairman Choi as well, such voices will only grow louder.

Prior to Chairman Choi, former Prosecutor General Yoon was also reported to the HCIA by the same civic group. He is suspected of failing to properly supervise the investigation of the 'Optimus Fund fraud' case while serving as the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office from 2018 to 2019. Additionally, there are allegations that he obstructed the inspection of the prosecution's alleged witness tampering during the case of former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook. The HCIA has registered the case against former Prosecutor General Yoon but has not yet started the investigation.

This week is both a critical moment and an opportunity for the HCIA. Both Chairman Choi (date undecided) and former Prosecutor General Yoon (on the 29th) are expected to announce their candidacies this week. Therefore, the timing of the investigation's commencement has become crucial. If the investigation actively proceeds simultaneously with the candidacy announcements, strong suspicions regarding political neutrality may arise externally.

Despite this, the HCIA is expected to soon make a decision on whether to start the investigation, with a high possibility of proceeding. Since HCIA Chief Kim Jin-wook expressed his intention to "complete the investigation" before the presidential election intensifies, it is anticipated that they will accelerate efforts to conclude the investigation quickly.

The investigative personnel have also been restored. Six prosecutors belonging to the HCIA completed a four-week training at the Judicial Research and Training Institute and returned to work on the 25th. To strengthen the investigation of major cases, the HCIA has also begun recruiting additional personnel. On the same day, the HCIA announced the start of the second half of the year’s open recruitment for prosecutors. Through this recruitment, they plan to hire a total of 10 more prosecutors, including 2 senior prosecutors and 8 regular prosecutors, to fill the full quota of 25 (including the chief and deputy chief). Currently, 13 prosecutors are working at the HCIA.

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