Last Year’s Reports of Violations of the Anti-Graft Act Hit Record Low... 24% Decrease Compared to Previous Year

Last year, reports of violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act reached the lowest level since the law was enacted.

According to the results of the inspection on the operation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act in public institutions announced by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) on the 6th, the number of people sanctioned decreased by 24% to 318 compared to the previous year.

Since 2016, a total of 14,818 violation reports have been received. By type of violation, improper solicitation accounted for 8,630 cases (58.2%), acceptance of money or valuables 5,764 cases (38.9%), and excessive lecture fees such as external lectures 424 cases (2.9%), in that order. The number of violation reports sharply increased from 1,568 cases in 2017 to over 4,000 cases in 2018, but has been declining since then.

In the case of last year, reports of acceptance of money or valuables accounted for the largest proportion with 864 cases (67%). Improper solicitation and excessive lecture fees followed with 419 cases (32%) and 11 cases (0.8%), respectively.

Since the enactment of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, a total of 2,197 people have been sanctioned. By type of violation, cases involving acceptance of money or valuables were the most common with 2,074 people (94%). Improper solicitation and excessive lecture fees from external lectures accounted for 111 people (5%) and 12 people (0.5%), respectively.

An ACRC official stated, "As the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act has entered its eighth year, it seems that the number of sanctions has decreased as it has become a norm in daily life," and added, "The ACRC plans to actively support the operation of the system so that related institutions can strengthen their own capabilities in handling reports and other matters."

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