Prosecutors Launch National Financial Crime Joint Investigation Team... Targeting Subsidy Crimes in Solar Power and More

Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok: "We Will Eradicate Financial Corruption"

Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok and key officials are unveiling the plaque at the launch ceremony of the Joint Investigation Unit for National Financial Crimes held on the 30th at the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office in Dobong-gu, Seoul. From the left: Yoo Jin-seung, Head of the Joint Investigation Unit for National Financial Crimes; Shin Bong-su, Head of the Anti-Corruption and Violent Crime Division; Yoon Cha-yong, Vice President of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation; Lee Jong-woo, Deputy Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service; Lee Won-seok, Prosecutor General; Kim Tae-ho, Deputy Commissioner of the National Tax Service; Ham Yong-il, Deputy Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service; Jung Young-hak, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office; Kim Hyung-soo, Deputy Chief Prosecutor.
Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

A government-wide joint investigation team has been launched to eradicate national fiscal crimes and recover criminal proceeds. It is expected that related agencies, centered on the prosecution, will take swift and proactive actions against the increasingly sophisticated, large-scale, and international national fiscal crimes.

According to the prosecution on the 30th, the "National Fiscal Crime Joint Investigation Team (Joint Investigation Team) Launch Ceremony" was held that morning at the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office. Attendees included Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, Northern District Prosecutors' Office Chief Jeong Young-hak, Deputy Commissioner Kim Tae-ho of the National Tax Service, Deputy Commissioner Lee Jong-woo of the Customs Service, Deputy Governor Ham Yong-il of the Financial Supervisory Service, and Vice President Yoon Cha-yong of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Prosecutor General Lee stated, "How taxes are collected and spent is a crucial issue directly linked to the rise and fall of the nation. Fair taxation, recognizing honest taxpayers, and using the national treasury where it is truly needed are the core of maintaining and developing the community." He added, "The Joint Investigation Team will thoroughly investigate from revenue crimes to expenditure crimes to eradicate fiscal corruption."

The Joint Investigation Team was established at the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office, which has built expertise in related crime investigations since being designated as a tax crime-focused prosecution office in January last year. The investigation team consists of about 30 personnel, including prosecutors, investigators, and dispatched staff from related agencies such as the National Tax Service, Customs Service, Financial Supervisory Service, and Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation. The team leader is Yoo Jin-seung, head of the Overseas Illegal Assets Recovery Joint Task Force. Yoo said, "Five agencies have joined forces to launch the Joint Investigation Team," adding, "We will integrate the capabilities of each agency well to strictly respond to the increasingly serious revenue and expenditure crimes and equip efficient investigative methods."

The Joint Investigation Team is a government-wide investigative body composed of experts from the prosecution, National Tax Service, Customs Service, Financial Supervisory Service, and Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation. It will focus its capabilities on responding to various types of national fiscal crimes, including tax evasion related to revenue such as tax fraud and overseas asset concealment, and fiscal corruption related to expenditure such as fraudulent subsidy claims.

Although national fiscal crimes are becoming more sophisticated, large-scale, and international, issues such as the lack of specialized investigative departments and insufficient government-wide collaboration systems have raised calls for a specialized investigative body. Since 2017, the scale of tax evasion has been around 6 to 7 trillion won annually, and over the past five years, the amount of fraudulent national subsidy claims uncovered has exceeded 170 billion won. However, the number of prosecutions related to national subsidy crimes, which reached 176 cases in 2017, dropped sharply to 15 cases last year.

The Joint Investigation Team has established a "Fast-Track" system to swiftly investigate tax and fiscal crimes and related money laundering crimes in collaboration with related agencies, as well as a "One-Stop" system to expedite the entire process from detecting criminal suspicion to investigation and asset recovery. Additionally, it will share and conduct in-depth analysis of crime information to accumulate meaningful intelligence and carry out joint investigations. Furthermore, by lowering barriers between agencies, it plans to promptly proceed with the procedures of "crime detection" → "investigation" → "illegal asset" recovery.

Work division and collaboration systems will also be organized for this purpose. Dispatched staff will perform tasks such as detecting and analyzing criminal suspicion, tracing funds, notifying tax data, and supporting the recovery of illicitly accumulated assets. Prosecutors and investigators will engage in planning investigations, joint data analysis, and conducting searches and seizures.

A prosecution official said, "Through an investigative team that systematically combines the prosecution's investigative experience and the expertise of related agencies, the time required for the entire process from investigation to illegal asset recovery will be shortened," adding, "We will focus government capabilities on eradicating fiscal corruption, which causes relative deprivation among honest taxpayers and shakes the foundation of community existence and maintenance."

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