Joint probe turns up hundreds of local corruption cases

The building of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in Sejong [MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR AND SAFETY]

Nearly 300 corruption cases by local government officials were uncovered during a three-month crackdown period.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on Wednesday, the ministry and 16 local governments found a total of 290 cases of corruption during a special joint inspection from March 6 to June 16.

This marks the first time the Interior Ministry launched a special joint inspection into corruption with local authorities.

The government and local authorities found high-ranking officials who misused their power, offered privileges to acquaintances or demonstrated a lack of discipline.

The Interior Ministry discovered 28 corruption cases and requested penalties against 86 officials.

The ministry requested police investigations of eight officials and sought heavy punishments for 16 officials.

City governments and provincial offices found 262 corruption cases involving 245 public officials. The local governments gave heavy penalties to 27 of them and asked the police to look into three officials.

One of the more severe cases involves a former city mayor who illegally approved a plan to develop a tourist site. The former mayor instructed other employees to violate the law to approve the project, complaining that the provincial government's screening of the plan was taking too long.

Another high-ranking public official at a county office instructed other employees to hire a candidate not qualified for the job. The official, who is accused of fixing the interview scores of the candidate, potentially faces a police investigation.

Other public officials corruptly helped businesses in their regions.

A senior public official was caught tipping off a business owner he knew about the scoring rubric for a project up for bid. In return, the business owner paid for the official's golf trip to Guam and Jeju Island worth 2.13 million won ($1,500).

Another civil servant accompanied a person in the taxi business on two golf trips to the Philippines while they were in charge of the subsidy support program for taxi businesses in the city. The public official also failed to settle the subsidy account for four years, allowing employees at the taxi company to use the money for other purposes during the period.

Others were caught for alleged embezzlement.

A public official at a district office of a metropolitan city faces a police investigation after allegedly pocketing 1.5 million won.

The official purchased 18 computer screen protection shields, of which only three were delivered to the office. The rest were refunded in cash to the public official.

"The special crackdown was initiated to warn public officials of the government's readiness to eliminate corruption among public officials in local governments," said Vice Interior Minister Ko Ki-dong.

"The government will ask for strict punishments for public corruption and simultaneously support and encourage officials who work ardently."

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]