State audit agency unveils anti-corruption reform measures

SEOUL, July 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state audit agency said Monday that it will ban those with records of political activity in recent years from taking top jobs at the agency as part of a series of reform measures aimed at cleaning up its image, which was tainted by a massive corruption scandal.
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has seen its reputation plunge after one of its top board members was arrested for taking bribes from a troubled savings bank seeking his influence. The official, Eun Jin-soo, had also served as legal advisor to President Lee Myung-bak.



The savings bank scandal rocked South Korea for months earlier this year, leading to the arrests of a number of officials, including some at the country's top financial regulator, on charges of accepting kickbacks from savings banks that were trying to avoid punishment for irregularities.
The anti-corruption reform package centers on banning those who have a record of joining political parties or seeking elected posts over the last three years from becoming members of the agency's top decision-making body.
The package also includes a series of steps to strengthen the ethical code of agency officials, including restricting them from contact with those related to their duties, and in unavoidable cases, requiring them to pay for meeting expenses on their own.
The BAI also made it mandatory for agency officials to file a report when they are given undue orders from their superiors. Agency officials will also be required to ask that they be excluded from audit assignments if they involve people with whom they have personal connections, officials said.
In addition, the agency decided to bolster its internal inspection team by increasing it to nine members from the current seven and sternly punishing those caught violating the ethics code. It also decided to set up a hotline that agency officials can use to report irregularities to the agency's chief.
Newly hired BAI officials should also make a written pledge to be fair in the line of duty.
The BAI also announced key projects that it plans to focus on over the next four years, including establishing a computer database of government officials vulnerable to corruption and rewarding whistle-blowers.
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