Thought late in coming it is welcome news that the prosecution is preparing to start an investigation into what has been found on the "X File" regarding illegal campaign funds such as in the "sepung" affair from 1997. The problem is that unfortunately the prosecution is getting started on that because of criticism from outside the organization rather than because of its own determination.
People have always been interested in whether Samsung has been illegally using money to exert its influence. In 1997 a considerable number of people in the prosecution's leadership were under Samsung "management," and the bigger question seems to have been whether or not that practice continues. No investigation that circumvents the issue will be trusted, and yet there's no way to know what the effects will be if the investigation digs into the truth. One can imagine the prosecution wanted to avoid this one.
The situation changed when National Assembly member Roh Hoe Chan released a list of prosecutors who may have received bribes from Samsung. The focus of the "X File" affair moved from Samsung to corruption among prosecutors. Confidence in the prosecution took a nosedive. The justice minister had publicly expressed his irritation, and the mood among younger prosecutors was getting serious. The prosecution's leadership desperately needed a way to turn things around.
There is something top prosecutors need to understand. They cannot overcome this crisis in confidence without dealing with the bribe issue. There were calls for the case to be given to the prosecution, even if there were grounds for it to be recused, out of consideration for its honor and stability as the highest law enforcement organization in the land. Now, however, there is less and less basis for that argument.
The order of things should be to win back the country's confidence by clarifying the truth about the prosecutors who received bribes, and then based on that dig into the truth behind Samsung's wide-ranging bribe campaign. If the investigation into Samsung ends up being suspected of being an operation to protect the prosecution it is possible there could be a situation in which the prosecution gets searched by an independent investigator just like the prosecution served a search warrant on the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The prosecution's leadership urgently needs to make a wise decision.
The Hankyoreh, 23 August 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] No Limit to Distrust of Prosecution |
