ID :
200531
Thu, 08/11/2011 - 02:08
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/200531
The shortlink copeid
Overprotected depositors:Electoral politics must not bend financial rules
(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Aug. 11)
Bipartisanship is pitiably rare in Korean politics. Even more pitiful is the rarity occurs at the wrong time and place.
A case in point was the decision a special Assembly panel Tuesday to reimburse victims of the 12 failed savings banks for virtually all of their deposits. ``We had to make an exception this time to ease the plights of small savers,??? lawmakers said.
Nonsense!
Taxpayers know too well this is just electoral politics, and many other legislators admit next year???s parliamentary and presidential elections seem to have made their colleagues lose their head.
The bipartisan agreement ??? which calls for reimbursing 90 percent of deposits up to 300 million won and 80 percent of even larger savings accounts ??? is glaringly against the principle of equity, considering victims in similar previous financial incidents could receive no more than legally guaranteed 50 million won.
It will also set a bad ??? and unmanageable ??? precedent of the state compensation for depositors??? losses with taxpayer money. Depositors opted to keep their money at the high-risk, high-return savings banks through their own will. It is small surprise then that some investors in the stock markets are asking, half jokingly, why the government is not making up for their losses, too.
Even a member of the parliamentary panel acknowledged the irrationality of its decision, saying, ``We couldn???t help it with general elections less than a year away.??? This is a lame excuse; even if the ruling and main opposition parties agreed to stick to the rules regardless of elections, voters will not be opting for other splinter parties for the very reason. The nation???s two largest parties have lost an opportunity to show true ??? desirable ??? bipartisanship.
We expect the National Assembly???s plenary session will not endorse the move. If the Assembly does so and sends it to the desk of President Lee Myung-bak, the chief executive should veto it, as his aides suggest now.
Aside from vote-gathering tactics, a sense of guilt might have aroused undue sympathy among the politicians. The savings bank scandal is a typical joint product of the trio ??? populist politicians, lazy bureaucrats and amoral bankers ??? smeared by shady connection of collusion, corruption and waste of public funds.
So much so the special committee could not even fulfill its foremost duty of ferreting out officials, elected or appointed, involved in this deep, wide scandal by failing to agree on the selection of witnesses. No less ignominious was major shareholders and large-sum depositors could withdraw their money just before these savings banks fell flat thanks to advanced notification, leaving only numerous petty depositors in the cold.
If the legislature is really about compensating people for their losses, the first thing it should do is to disclose all accounts at savings banks held in the names of politicians and their relatives and friends. The law enforcement authorities should then trace corruptive links and take back the ``black money.???
The global financial turmoil might ripple over anytime to trigger another crisis here. Feigning generosity with taxpayer money to cover up officials??? blunders and corruptions is not the way to avoid a looming crisis.
(END)
Bipartisanship is pitiably rare in Korean politics. Even more pitiful is the rarity occurs at the wrong time and place.
A case in point was the decision a special Assembly panel Tuesday to reimburse victims of the 12 failed savings banks for virtually all of their deposits. ``We had to make an exception this time to ease the plights of small savers,??? lawmakers said.
Nonsense!
Taxpayers know too well this is just electoral politics, and many other legislators admit next year???s parliamentary and presidential elections seem to have made their colleagues lose their head.
The bipartisan agreement ??? which calls for reimbursing 90 percent of deposits up to 300 million won and 80 percent of even larger savings accounts ??? is glaringly against the principle of equity, considering victims in similar previous financial incidents could receive no more than legally guaranteed 50 million won.
It will also set a bad ??? and unmanageable ??? precedent of the state compensation for depositors??? losses with taxpayer money. Depositors opted to keep their money at the high-risk, high-return savings banks through their own will. It is small surprise then that some investors in the stock markets are asking, half jokingly, why the government is not making up for their losses, too.
Even a member of the parliamentary panel acknowledged the irrationality of its decision, saying, ``We couldn???t help it with general elections less than a year away.??? This is a lame excuse; even if the ruling and main opposition parties agreed to stick to the rules regardless of elections, voters will not be opting for other splinter parties for the very reason. The nation???s two largest parties have lost an opportunity to show true ??? desirable ??? bipartisanship.
We expect the National Assembly???s plenary session will not endorse the move. If the Assembly does so and sends it to the desk of President Lee Myung-bak, the chief executive should veto it, as his aides suggest now.
Aside from vote-gathering tactics, a sense of guilt might have aroused undue sympathy among the politicians. The savings bank scandal is a typical joint product of the trio ??? populist politicians, lazy bureaucrats and amoral bankers ??? smeared by shady connection of collusion, corruption and waste of public funds.
So much so the special committee could not even fulfill its foremost duty of ferreting out officials, elected or appointed, involved in this deep, wide scandal by failing to agree on the selection of witnesses. No less ignominious was major shareholders and large-sum depositors could withdraw their money just before these savings banks fell flat thanks to advanced notification, leaving only numerous petty depositors in the cold.
If the legislature is really about compensating people for their losses, the first thing it should do is to disclose all accounts at savings banks held in the names of politicians and their relatives and friends. The law enforcement authorities should then trace corruptive links and take back the ``black money.???
The global financial turmoil might ripple over anytime to trigger another crisis here. Feigning generosity with taxpayer money to cover up officials??? blunders and corruptions is not the way to avoid a looming crisis.
(END)
