1303 to 1441 People Booked, 759 to 836 Prosecuted Increased
All 33 Detained and Prosecuted Charged with Bribery Election
Prosecutors: "Investigation Guidelines Revision Needed to Establish Police-Prosecutor Consultation Procedures"
Through the investigation of election crimes in the 3rd Nationwide Simultaneous Cooperative Head Elections held last March by Nonghyup, Suhyup, and Sanripjo, 836 individuals were prosecuted.
The prosecution announced that, in order to improve the practical difficulties of deciding whether to indict within the six-month statute of limitations after receiving cases from the police?amid restrictions on direct investigation of election crimes?they will establish a consultation procedure with the police through amendments to investigation guidelines and promote legislative changes to extend the statute of limitations.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced on the 10th that a total of 1,441 people were booked by the statute of limitations deadline on the 8th for election crimes related to cooperative head elections, of whom 836 were indicted. Among those indicted, 33 were detained and prosecuted, all charged with bribery-related election offenses.
Among the elected candidates, 103 individuals, accounting for 7.7% of the total 1,346 elected, were indicted, and 7 of them were prosecuted while in detention.
Compared to the 2nd cooperative head elections held in March 2019, the number of booked individuals increased by 10.6%, from 1,303 to 1,441, and the number of indicted persons rose by 10.1%, from 759 to 836. For elected candidates, the number booked slightly decreased from 229 to 226, and those indicted decreased slightly from 116 to 103 compared to the previous election.
By type, bribery-related election offenses accounted for 1,005 cases (69.7%), negative campaigning 137 cases (9.5%), and premature electioneering 57 cases (4.0%), in that order.
The Nationwide Simultaneous Cooperative Head Elections are held to elect representatives of approximately 1,340 local Nonghyup, Suhyup, and Sanripjo units simultaneously, first conducted in March 2015. The 3rd cooperative head elections were held simultaneously on March 8 at 1,346 locations nationwide, including 1,114 Nonghyup branches, 90 Suhyup branches, and 142 Sanripjo branches.
The total number of registered candidates was 3,082, recording an average competition ratio of 2.3 to 1, and the total number of voters was 2,029,558 (1,649,878 for Nonghyup, 125,629 for Suhyup, and 254,051 for Sanripjo).
A prosecution official stated, "This cooperative head election was the first nationwide cooperative head election held after the amendment of the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act in May last year, which made it impossible for prosecutors to initiate investigations directly. Coupled with the limitation of the six-month short statute of limitations, this caused a concentration of case transfers toward the end."
During the 2021 adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police, the scope of direct investigation initiation by prosecutors was limited, but exceptions were made for important crimes such as election crimes. However, with last year's legal amendments, prosecutors can now only initiate direct investigations for a very limited number of election crimes, such as bribery in public elections or election interference by public officials.
In this cooperative head election, with the six-month short statute of limitations applied, more than 280 cases under investigation by the police within one month before the statute of limitations expired were intensively transferred to the prosecution, leaving both the prosecution and police with time constraints for thorough review and supplementary investigations, according to the prosecution.
To address these issues, the prosecution plans to establish procedures that enable practical cooperation between the prosecution and police from the initial investigation stage and to pursue measures to abolish the special short six-month statute of limitations or extend it to one or two years.
A prosecution official said, "With the upcoming revision of investigation guidelines, a system requiring essential consultation between the prosecution and police three months before the expiration of the statute of limitations for election crimes will be introduced. We will strengthen cooperation between the prosecution and police according to the purpose of this system." He added, "Furthermore, we will work closely with the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency to prepare detailed implementation plans and do our best to establish a system that allows mutual cooperation between the prosecution and police from the early stages of investigation."
He continued, "Considering the time from the occurrence of the crime to the revelation of the facts and the filing of complaints, the current six-month period is divided between the election management committee, police, and prosecution, which is less than sufficient." He added, "We plan to continuously propose amendments based on analyses of overseas legislative cases and the time required at each investigation stage."
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