As the National Assembly moves to abolish the Prosecutors' Office in October and establish a new Public Prosecution Service and a Serious Crimes Investigation Agency in its place, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials said Tuesday that the ongoing revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure must also address special provisions governing CIO investigators and special prosecutors.
The CIO made the remarks at its regular briefing in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday morning. "Even if prosecutors lose their investigative authority, CIO investigators and special prosecutors will remain in place," the agency said. "Separate provisions will be needed."
Several bills to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure — centered on abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigative authority — are currently pending in the National Assembly. The push began with bills introduced by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Yong-min and Rebuilding Korea Party lawmaker Park Eun-jeong, which sought to strip prosecutors of supplementary investigative powers while retaining only the right to request supplementary investigations. On Tuesday, Democratic Party lawmaker Hong Gi-won introduced a separate amendment that would allow prosecutors to retain limited supplementary investigative authority.
The CIO noted that Article 47 of the CIO Act requires the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure to apply mutatis mutandis to CIO investigators and staff, insofar as they do not conflict with the CIO Act. Amending the code without accounting for CIO investigators and special prosecutors could therefore create legal questions about the validity of investigations.
The agency said the Code of Criminal Procedure should include special provisions on the duties and authority of CIO investigators and special prosecutors. "If new provisions are not added to the Code of Criminal Procedure or the CIO Act is not amended, articles related to compulsory investigations may not apply to CIO investigators or special prosecutors," CIO spokesperson Kim Baek-gi said. "It needs to be made clear."
The CIO also said it considers the use of the term "inci" — referring to the physical transfer of a case — inappropriate when describing the procedure for sending cases between CIO investigators and Public Prosecution Service prosecutors. The agency confirmed it has conveyed this position to the National Assembly. "The term 'inci' implies a physical movement, and we raised the question of whether it is appropriate to use that expression when no suspect is actually being moved," Kim said.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office has separately told the National Assembly that the revised code should include a provision granting prosecutors the right to request supplementary investigations from the CIO. In April, prosecutors and the CIO engaged in a back-and-forth dispute after prosecutors indicted a senior Board of Audit and Inspection civil servant on bribery charges. On this, Kim said, "I understand that the matter is being discussed, so I expect it will be addressed."
bell@heraldcorp.com
