Audit Committee 'Passing' Controversy, Will It Lead to Board of Audit and Inspection's National Assembly Investigation?

Conflict Between Audit Committee and Secretariat Over Final Draft Disclosure
Rep. Kim Euigyeom: "Behind the Scenes is Secretary-General Yubyungho"

There is a conflict between the audit committee members and the Audit Office over the disclosure process of the audit result report on Jeon Hyun-hee, the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. The opposition party pointed to Secretary General Yoo Byung-ho as the background of their confrontation and announced plans to push for a national audit investigation into the Audit Office.

Earlier, Chief Auditor Jo Eun-seok raised issues about the report disclosure process through the Audit Office's internal bulletin board on the 12th. According to regulations, the chief auditor must review the final draft before its registration and disclosure, but he claimed he was not allowed to review it.

Article 66, Paragraph 2 of the Audit Office's "Regulations on the Handling of Audit Affairs" stipulates that if the audit committee changes the audit results by resolution, it must be implemented "after review by the head of the deliberation office, approval by the secretary general, and review by the chief auditor."

On the 3rd, Jeon Hyun-hee, Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, held a placard protest in front of the Board of Audit and Inspection in Jongno-gu, Seoul, ahead of attending the 'Daesim' to personally explain her position regarding the commission's audit. Photo by Yonhap News

He stated, "I found out belatedly that the audit result report had been disclosed, and none of the audit committee members were informed in advance. The Audit Office was just waiting for it to be brought back again," adding, "This is something that should never happen in a constitutional institution, and I was utterly dismayed by this occurrence."

In response, the Audit Office's Secretariat denied any procedural issues. Kim Young-shin, head of the Public Officials Inspection Headquarters at the Audit Office who led the Anti-Corruption Commission audit, posted a rebuttal on the internal bulletin board on the 13th, stating, "The audit results of the Anti-Corruption Commission were implemented according to the resolution of the audit committee," and claimed, "The revised draft approved by the committee was reviewed three times by the chief auditor and other committee members, followed by review by the head of the deliberation office and approval by the secretary general, thus properly following the procedures for implementing the audit results."

Attention is focused on Secretary General Yoo, who is known to have led the audit of the former Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. The Democratic Party demanded the dismissal of Secretary General Yoo Byung-ho, calling the audit report on the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on the 9th a "false fabricated report" that ignored the resolution of the highest decision-making body, the audit committee, and announced plans to push for a national audit investigation into the Audit Office.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Eui-gyeom also raised suspicions that the Audit Office system has a review confirmation button that is pressed after viewing, which confirms the review, but Secretary General Yoo allegedly ordered the removal of this button to prevent confirmation of whether the report was reviewed.

On the 15th, Kim said on the YouTube channel "Kim Eo-jun's Humility is Difficult News Factory," "Secretary General Yoo Byung-ho instructed the IT staff to modify the website with the approval signature and to remove the (review confirmation) button."

The former Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the party involved, called the Audit Office's audit report on the Commission a "political targeted audit" and announced plans to take legal action against Secretary General Yoo Byung-ho and others.

On the 12th, Jeon Hyun-hee held an emergency press briefing at the Gwanghwamun Government Seoul Office regarding urgent issues and said, "We will take strong legal action against Secretary General Yoo and related parties who fabricated illegal false audit results, created false official documents, disrupted the constitutional order, and defamed and falsely accused the Chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission."

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