Civil group claims prosecutors misuse the costs for special activities

Participants show copies of receipts related to cases of misuse of prosecutors\' special activity expenses at a press conference to announce the actual situation of misuse of prosecutors\' special activity expenses hosted by the Prosecutors\' Budget Verification Foundation at the New Starpa Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of Sept. 19. From left, Park Joong-seok, editor of New Starpa\'s Investigation Team 1, Ha Seung-soo, co-chair of Catch the Tax Thieves, Jung Jin-im, director of the Center for Information Disclosure for a Transparent Society, and Chae Yeon-ha, secretary general of Together Citizen Action. Yonhap

A civil group claimed that the prosecution used the so-called “costs for special activities,” which are supposed to be used for investigation activities that require confidentiality, to pay for food, such as coffee and cakes. In response, the prosecution refuted the allegation, saying, "The costs for special activities can be used for expenses, including food, for investigation activities."

“The Group for Prosecution Budget Verification” held a press conference in Seoul on December 19 to announce the results of the analysis of prosecutors' misuse of the costs for special activities. The analysis looked at a certain part (about 0.5 percent) of the prosecution's total costs for special activities that were spent on credit cards.

The group looked at 185 uses of the 300 uses where evidence of expenditure, such as card receipts, which can confirm where they were used, remains. They included 155 uses in the Jinju District Prosecutors’ Office, 12 in the Chungju District Prosecutors’ Office, 10 in the Masan District Prosecutors’ Office, 3 in the Gyeongju and Seosan District Prosecutors’ Offices, respectively, and 1 in the Sokcho and Tongyeong District Prosecutors’ Offices, respectively.

According to the group, Jinju District Prosecutors’ Office spent 150,400 won to purchase cakes from Paris Baguette between October and November 2019. In May 2018, it purchased 40,000 won worth of drinks from Starbucks. In August 2020, it spent 600,000 won at a family restaurant and 300,000 won at a seafood restaurant in December 2020.

Chae Yeon-ha, secretary-general of “The Citizens' Action Together” said, "According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance guidelines for implementing budget and fund management plans, the costs for special activities are defined as expenses directly used for investigation of cases requiring confidentiality and for confidential state affairs.” She also added, "Food expenses can be sufficiently covered by business promotion expenses. If you look at the uses of the Jinju District Prosecutors’ Office, they used the costs for special activities for things that are not directly related to the investigation."

Jeong Jin-im, director of “The Information Disclosure Center for Transparent Society” said, "If the prosecution spent money for confidential investigations, it should prove it," adding, "It is questionable whether the costs for special activities should be in place in such a situation where they are misused.”

The prosecution says it is not a problem to use the costs for special activities as expenses for investigation activities. An official from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said, "The costs for specific business activities and special activities can be used to cover the expenses necessary for investigation activities," and added, "We use them in accordance with the relevant government guidelines for the purpose of budgeting."

He also said, "Since there are many restrictions when it comes to using the costs for special business activities, we use the cost for special activities to cover the other expenses. It would be a problem if they were used privately, but they were rightfully used for the investigation. The previous administration also confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the usage.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.