The Corruption Investigation Office convenes the Prosecution Review Committee for the 'Jo Hee-yeon Case' to decide on indictment

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA) convened a prosecution review committee on the morning of the 30th to decide whether to indict Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon in the special recruitment suspicion case. HCIA Chief Kim Jin-wook will make the final decision by referring to the conclusions of the prosecution review committee.

HCIA held the prosecution review committee at 10 a.m. that day to decide whether to indict Superintendent Cho. The committee is an advisory body that reviews HCIA's prosecution functions and is composed of more than 10 external members. If the committee decides not to prosecute, it is expected to discuss how appropriate and lawful the investigation process was.

Earlier, HCIA summoned Superintendent Cho for questioning on the 27th of last month and received a written opinion from Cho's side on the 11th of this month, completing the review of the materials. The work to conclude the investigation has been completed, and before deciding on prosecution, HCIA plans to refer to the opinions of external members through the prosecution review committee.

The prosecution review committee operates with a structure similar to the Prosecutor's Investigation Review Committee. It reviews and deliberates on all prosecution functions, including whether to initiate prosecution and maintain prosecution. It was established according to the operational guidelines for the prosecution review committee enacted at the end of April. It is operated with more than 10 external members, and the list of members is kept confidential to ensure independent advice.

According to detailed guidelines, HCIA prosecutors are required to 'respect' the advisory results of the prosecution review committee. This means the committee's opinions can significantly influence the investigation's conclusion, but conversely, it can also be interpreted that there is no obligation to follow the conclusion exactly as with the Prosecutor's Investigation Review Committee. The members will deliberate on whether to request prosecution for Superintendent Cho's alleged charge of unfairly excluding hiring officials from their duties to recruit five dismissed teachers he wanted to hire during the special recruitment conducted in 2018.

Although the results are generally confidential, if the members decide to disclose them after internal discussions, an official announcement will be made following the review.

Some view the use of the prosecution review committee as a measure to increase the consistency of the investigation's conclusion, given the burden of delivering a convincing conclusion to the public as HCIA's official 'first case' and in preparation for potential conflicts with the prosecution in the future. In fact, the final decision on whether to indict Superintendent Cho rests with the prosecution. According to the HCIA Act, HCIA can only initiate prosecution for court presidents, Supreme Court justices, prosecutors general, judges and prosecutors, and police officers of rank superintendent or higher, and can only investigate cases involving metropolitan and provincial education superintendents. Because of this, there is a possibility that HCIA and the prosecution may have differing judgments.

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