The Corruption Investigation Office Revises Rules to Change 'Selective Indictment to All Indictments,' Significantly Increasing the Proportion of Self-Handled Cases

Status of Case Handling Before and After Rule Revision. / Provided by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Since the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (HCIA) revised its case handling regulations in March to change from a selective registration system to a full (automatic) registration system, the proportion of cases handled internally has significantly increased.

With the revision of the regulations, from March 14 this year, the HCIA no longer selectively registers cases for direct investigation. Instead, it registers all cases immediately upon receipt, except for those complaints or accusations with unclear content that are accepted as petitions.

According to the case handling performance announced by the HCIA on the 12th, from January last year until March 13 this year, before the revision of the case handling regulations, the proportion of cases handled internally out of the 3,007 cases received was 12.9% (387 cases). However, in the three months from March 14 to June 15, after the regulation revision, the HCIA handled internally 70.4% (402 cases) of the total 571 cases received.

Cases handled internally refer to those where the HCIA does not transfer the case to other investigative agencies such as the prosecution or police but directly prosecutes, dismisses, or decides not to file charges or register the case. Most of the cases handled internally by the HCIA were dismissed or resulted in non-prosecution.

Conversely, the proportion of cases transferred to other investigative agencies such as the prosecution or police without direct investigation by the HCIA decreased sharply from 87.1% before the regulation revision to 29.6% after the revision.

Previously, two prosecutors from the Case Analysis and Investigation Office would selectively register cases and often transfer them to other agencies. Since the regulation revision, prosecutors in each investigative division have been assigned cases, which is analyzed to have increased the internal handling rate.

The HCIA cited the following reasons for this background: ▲ the introduction of the full registration system ▲ the initial lack of investigative personnel and insufficient investigative conditions at the HCIA leading to many transfers to other agencies ▲ reinforcement of personnel through two rounds of hiring prosecutors and investigators ▲ and the gradual improvement of investigative capabilities.

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