In One Month, the Corruption Investigation Office Handles 9 Cases Including Yoon Seok-yeol... Concerns Over 'Capacity Overload'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The High-ranking Officials’ Crime Investigation Unit (HOCI) has recently taken on a series of major cases within the past month, drawing attention to the background of these developments. It is also known to be suffering from a severe manpower shortage, raising doubts about whether it can conduct investigations properly.

According to the legal community on the 13th, since its launch, HOCI has assigned case numbers and begun investigations into a total of nine cases as of the 4th of this month.

On April 28, HOCI started investigating two allegations (abuse of authority and obstruction of official duties, violation of the State Public Officials Act) regarding the improper special recruitment of Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The third case involved Prosecutor Lee Kyu-won, who is suspected of falsifying a meeting report with Yoon Joong-chun. The fourth case was the leak of the indictment against Lee Sung-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office, who was indicted for exerting external pressure on the illegal travel ban investigation of former Deputy Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui. Cases seven and eight involved suspicions of inadequate investigation into former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s Optimus Asset Management fund fraud case and obstruction of investigation into former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook’s alleged witness tampering, respectively. The ninth case concerns allegations of preferential treatment involving politicians and officials in the LCT project investigated by the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office.

Except for Superintendent Cho, all cases are related to prosecutors. In the case of former Prosecutor General Yoon, who is also a prominent presidential candidate, these cases carry politically sensitive implications. Therefore, HOCI appears to be compelled to devote even greater care to the investigation process and outcomes.

Criticism has arisen that HOCI is conducting an “octopus-like investigation” beyond its capacity. In fact, HOCI has nine prosecutors available for investigation and is handling nine cases. Director Kim Jin-wook also stated in February that HOCI could handle about three to four major cases annually, so nine cases far exceed this capacity.

Concerns are growing as HOCI has yet to demonstrate its performance or capability. The investigation into Superintendent Cho, the first case, has not even reached the stage of summoning the subject for questioning. Most of the prosecutors assigned are reportedly currently undergoing training at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, resulting in no progress in the investigations.