Corruption Investigation Agency Clears Kim Geon-hee's Special Prosecutor Team of Bias Allegations

The Corruption Investigation Agency has cleared Kim Geon-hee's special prosecutor team of allegations regarding a biased investigation into the Unification Church.

An agency official stated during a regular briefing on the 29th at the Government Complex in Gwacheon, "We found insufficient evidence to support the allegations against the special prosecutor and others, who were accused of failing to take necessary investigative actions or transfer the case despite securing statements related to the Unification Church's political donations."

Last year, the agency investigated claims that Kim Geon-hee's special prosecutor team focused its inquiry primarily on politicians from the People Power Party, despite obtaining testimony that five politicians, including members of the Democratic Party, received funds from the church between 2018 and 2020.

The special prosecutor's team had only prepared an investigation report and assigned a case number three months later in November. They later determined that the case did not fall within their investigative scope and transferred it to the police. In response, the People Power Party accused the special prosecutor team of conducting a biased investigation and reported them for job abandonment, leading to the case being referred to the agency.

The agency conducted a thorough investigation into whether the special prosecutor's actions constituted job abandonment under criminal law. An official noted, "It has been confirmed that the investigation team did not take any actions beyond compiling interview reports, resulting in a delay of about three and a half months before the case was transferred. However, according to Supreme Court precedents, mere delays or mistakes in investigations do not constitute job abandonment; it must be shown that there was a conscious abandonment or neglect of duty."

Additionally, the agency secured documents related to internal discussions on transferring the case after the special prosecutor and his team received the testimony, as well as consistent statements from team members indicating they had not received any directives to delay or conceal the investigation.

The official added, "There are no explicit regulations regarding the timing of transferring cases that fall outside the scope of the special prosecutor's law, and considering that there was internal review before the actual transfer to the police, it is difficult to view this as intentional job abandonment."

Meanwhile, the agency official commented on the ongoing case involving Supreme Court nominee Jo Hee-dae, who has been reported for job abandonment related to the recent written recommendation for Supreme Court justices, stating, "The case is currently assigned to the fourth investigation division."

Regarding potential overlaps in investigative authority with the upcoming Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, the official remarked, "There are currently no resolved issues, and even if it is not the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, the Corruption Investigation Agency can exercise its right to request case transfers from other investigative bodies, and those bodies can also transfer cases to us. As of now, there are no issues arising, but we cannot predict what may happen in the future. However, the existing system remains valid."