[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Five public officials have been sent to the prosecution in connection with the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education local government employee recruitment corruption case, which led a public service exam candidate to take extreme measures after a reversed pass decision last July.
On the 27th, the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency announced that after investigating the recruitment corruption allegations at the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, five people, including Grade 5 administrative officer A from the city education office, were sent to the prosecution.
According to the police, A was arrested last July on charges of ‘disclosure of official secrets’ and violation of the ‘Improper Solicitation and Graft Act’.
A is suspected of participating as an interviewer in the local government employee appointment exam conducted by the city education office last July and leaking interview questions after receiving a request to provide the questions in advance.
Another interviewer, public official B from the city hall, and public official C from the postal service office, who were found to have conspired with A, have been booked on charges of ‘obstruction of official duties by deception’ and violation of the ‘Local Public Officials Act’.
They allegedly gave an ‘excellent’ interview score to a specific candidate, and it was revealed that they were not originally acquaintances.
During the investigation, the police also booked public official D from the city education office, a former head of the education support office, who was suspected of requesting A to leak the questions, and D’s former subordinate E, who was involved in the question leak, on charges of ‘obstruction of official duties by deception’ and violation of the ‘Local Public Officials Act’.
The police obtained a total of 13 search warrants over about one year and two months, conducting searches of their offices and homes, and analyzed communication data such as call records to uncover the conspiracy.
A police official said, “To ensure the fairness of the interview exam, we recommended that the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education increase the proportion of external interviewers and improve the system to require detailed reasons when scoring.”
Last July, candidate B was happy to confirm the announcement that he had finally passed the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education local government employee exam, but after learning that the education office’s administrative error had displayed a pass message even to those who failed, he took extreme measures.
At the time, the education office explained, “There was no error in the list of successful candidates itself, but an error occurred on the personal score viewing site where candidates check their scores.”
B’s bereaved family, knowing that he ranked third in the written exam but failed the interview, filed a complaint last July against the responsible officials for dereliction of duty and aiding suicide.
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