The prosecution’s fraudulent use and misuse of special activity expenses, which the prosecution has concealed, were revealed by the series of reports made by Newstapa and the Joint Investigation Group for Verification of Prosecution’s Budget (Sedojab, the Center for Freedom of Information and Transparent Society, Citizens’ Action Network Newsmin, Newshada, Gyeongnam Residents Daily, Busan MBC, and Chungcheong Review). The special activity expenses, which are appropriated to be used for investigations and information collection that require confidentiality, were used in the wrong places, such as rewards for prosecutors, encouragement money for employees preparing for audit and inspection conducted by the National Assembly, monthly rent for air purifiers installed at prosecutors’ offices, production of photos commemorating prosecutors’ relocation, etc. It was the bare face of the prosecution’s execution of special activity expenses that was uncovered for the first time after peeling off the “dark masks” that the prosecution had put on to cover their traces.

In Oct, the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee criticized the prosecution and the Ministry of Justice for the fraudulent use of special activity expenses at the National Assembly’s audit and inspection session. However, Minister of Justice Han Dong Hoon and Prosecutor General Lee One-Seok, who are responsible for the fraudulent use and misuse of special activity expenses, used sophistry and kept making excuses. They glossed over the misuse of special activity expenses by saying that they were following custom and reluctantly promised corrective action only for some of the apparent fraudulent uses.

The National Assembly will soon deliberate on the government’s budget, including the special activity expenses of the prosecution. They will also review the prosecution’s special activity expenses, which were revealed to have been fraudulently used and misused. All national taxes spent by government agencies are precious and are by no means a “petty penny.” The special activity expenses of the prosecution are no exception.

Newstapa organized the last audit and inspection session held by the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee into a video focusing on three keywords: custom, correction, and improvement.