Assemblyman So Byeong-cheol, 1 in 3 Former Audit Office Officials Reemployed by Audited Agencies After Retirement, 'Preferential Treatment for Former Officials'

100% Employment Approval Passed, Board of Audit Review Opinion Transformed into 'Employment Recommendation Letter'

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] It has been revealed that more than one in three public officials who retired from the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) and were re-employed over the past 5 years and 9 months moved to supervised agencies.

According to the national audit data submitted by the BAI and the Ministry of Personnel Management, provided by Democratic Party lawmaker So Byung-chul (Suncheon, Gwangyang, Gokseong, Gurye (Gap), Legislation and Judiciary Committee), among the public officials who retired from the BAI and were re-employed during the recent 5 years and 9 months (2016~September 2021), a total of 26 moved to supervised agencies, accounting for about 34% of the total 76 who were employed in institutions subject to employment review, he announced on the 8th.

Furthermore, all 76 retired BAI officials who requested confirmation of employment restrictions or applied for employment approval review to work at institutions subject to employment review received 100% employment approval decisions from the Public Officials Ethics Committee.

The employment restriction system is being operated so ineffectively that the hidden assistance of the BAI also plays a part.

According to the regulations related to employment restrictions, when a retired public official applies for employment restriction confirmation or employment approval review, the head of the affiliated institution before retirement must submit a re-employment review opinion letter to the Public Officials Ethics Committee.

Lawmaker So Byung-chul claims that the ‘review opinion letters’ submitted by the BAI are practically no different from ‘employment recommendation letters.’

They are written in a way that states, “The individual has accumulated specialized knowledge and extensive experience in a specific field through long-term service in public offices such as the BAI, holds various degrees and achievements, and possesses the expertise necessary to perform roles in specific positions at the prospective workplace,” which is closer to an employment recommendation rather than a review opinion on the possibility of re-employment.

The BAI is a powerful institution with 1,601 audited agencies and 1,619,024 personnel under its jurisdiction.

Despite this, it should manage the re-employment of retirees with stricter ethical standards than other institutions. However, if the BAI encourages retirees to move to supervised agencies, those agencies, which are in a subordinate position, cannot realistically refuse former BAI officials who are regarded as superiors.

Such unrestrained movement of retired BAI officials to supervised agencies is highly serious because it raises concerns not only about the audit work performed by the individuals during their tenure but also about the fairness and objectivity of current BAI employees’ work due to undue influence exerted by former officials.

Lawmaker So Byung-chul emphasized, “BAI employees must possess a higher level of morality and ethical awareness than any other public officials to ensure proper audits for the public, fair inspections, and a trusted BAI,” and pointed out, “Although there are flaws in the current employment review system under the law, allowing retired officials who held a ‘superior’ position in audit work to be employed by ‘subordinate’ supervised agencies undermines the BAI’s fairness and objectivity.”

He continued, “The German Federal Civil Servants Act stipulates that if a civil servant retires before the mandatory retirement age and is employed in the private sector, and the income exceeds 1.5 times the pension amount, the pension payment is deducted accordingly,” and strongly urged, “As Korea’s top investigative agency, the BAI must also pursue progressive institutional reforms to block preferential treatment for former officials to secure public trust and fairness.”

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