Jeon Hyun-hee: "Board of Audit and Inspection conducted no investigation of involved parties... Stop harassing staff and investigate me"

Chairperson Jeon Hyun-hee of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission is wearing a stern expression during a briefing on the Board of Audit and Inspection audit at the Government Seoul Office briefing room on the 21st. 2022.9.21 Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Son Sun-hee] On the 21st, Jeon Hyun-hee, Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, publicly demanded the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), saying, "Stop harassing the Commission staff and strongly request that you directly investigate me, the target of this audit." She pointed out that despite the audit continuing for over two months with two extensions, no investigation has been conducted on the actual subject.

Chairperson Jeon held a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul that morning and said, "The BAI should focus on the target, the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, in line with the original intent of a special audit, and immediately stop the illegal harassment of Commission staff without legal grounds, such as defamation caused by leaking audit information, separate audits on Commission staff, abuse of authority, coercive investigations, and inducement of false statements." She added, "The BAI has never directly investigated me, the subject, even once, but has only been digging around my surroundings, leaking audit information to the media, causing humiliation and defamation."

When asked why no investigation has been conducted on herself during the seventh week of this special audit, Chairperson Jeon said, "I do not know the reason either," and added, "They have not given me a chance to explain and are harassing the staff with a thorough, dusting-style investigation around me, so I could no longer stand by and decided to hold a press conference."

Previously appointed during the Moon Jae-in administration, Chairperson Jeon has faced strong resignation pressure from the current ruling party after the regime change. Meanwhile, the BAI launched a special audit targeting her on the 8th, leading to criticism both inside and outside that this is a 'targeted removal' of a Chairperson whose term is guaranteed. However, as the BAI extended the audit period twice over the past seven weeks without producing significant results, Chairperson Jeon appears to have launched a counterattack.

Chairperson Jeon claimed, "The BAI's public initiation of a targeted audit on the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission solely based on 'a tip-off' lacks legitimacy in anyone's eyes," asserting that the special audit itself is targeting her. The issues include one luncheon with a newspaper editor-in-chief, conflict of interest interpretations involving former Ministers of Justice Choo Mi-ae and Park Beom-gye, one case related to the management costs of the Chairperson’s official residence, attendance records of the Chairperson, a case related to the Chairperson’s hanbok at events, disciplinary matters involving senior officials of the Commission, and recruitment issues concerning general staff of the Commission.

In particular, Chairperson Jeon stated, "There is one audit case that is almost the only one not related to the Chairperson’s targeted matters and is difficult to understand," and claimed, "It is presumed to be a 'padded audit'." This case concerns former Vice Chairperson Lee Jeong-hee, who has already resigned, and is a complaint where the Commission and the BAI issued different disciplinary results on the same matter, causing a conflict of authority between the two organizations.

Chairperson Jeon repeatedly asserted, "The BAI has conducted illegal audits by repeatedly asking the same questions to staff until they get the answers they want, using persuasion and intimidation," and added, "They repeat the same meaningless questions and forcibly induce false answers by promising not to hold the staff accountable for weaknesses if they deny the Chairperson’s involvement and upper-level reporting that never actually happened."

She warned, "If the audit results are illegally or falsely manipulated, I will never stand by and will publicly impeach and strongly take legal action based on evidence of such false manipulation." She said, "Legal review is currently underway," and "Actions will be taken after the audit ends."

Chairperson Jeon reiterated, "Stop harassing innocent Commission staff and conduct a fair and direct investigation on me, the subject, so that the BAI itself can prove the legitimacy of this audit."

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