Is the End-of-Term Donation Account a Negative Balance Account?⑨[Leaking Donations]

Editor's NoteIn the past, the reason for abolishing the district party offices was due to illegal political funds. Recently, the two major parties have been pushing for the revival of district party offices. The prerequisite for the revival of district party offices is the transparent use of political funds. What is the actual situation? Asia Economy requested information disclosure from the National Election Commission and regional election commissions and secured six months' worth of accounting reports before the expiration of the terms of 144 members of the 21st National Assembly. These individuals are now former lawmakers. Based on the secured data, we prioritized verification items by examining the appropriateness of expenditure purposes and usage locations. We confirmed with the parties involved and the election commission, and also conducted on-site reporting. We also uncovered the reality that the election commission does not properly verify accounting reports. We focus on verifying and reporting the use of political funds by lawmakers near the end of their terms. ① Spending millions of won on office supplies at a kimchi factory logistics warehouse ② Using political funds for meals at Gangnam wine bars, hotels, and famous restaurants... 'Meetings = Gourmet tours?' ③ Retirement pay is illegal... 'Retirement gratuity' is legal ④ Large-scale holiday gifts to fellow lawmakers with political funds ⑤ Spending 10 million won 10 days before term expiration for a solo trip to the U.S. ⑥ Large expenditures on attorney fees despite the election commission's 'no problem' response ⑦ Spent millions on supporting fellow politicians ⑧ Political funds used to pay traffic violation fines ⑨ Is the support fund account negative at the end of the term?

# As of May 29, when the term of the 21st National Assembly members ended this year, former lawmaker Kim Seung-nam's 'support group donation' account balance was minus 40 million won. Looking at the accounting report alone, it appears as if the support group account was used like a 'negative account (overdraft loan),' drawing funds first and using them.

# Former lawmaker Go Yong-jin also returned a borrowed protocol vehicle on June 10 this year and settled 3.52 million won from the support group donation account. Accordingly, the final balance was reported to the election commission as -212,000 won, indicating an overspending of the support group donation funds.

It has been confirmed that some lawmakers nearing the end of their terms submitted accounting reports to the election commission with incorrectly recorded sources of political fund usage. This is pointed out as a typical example showing the lax management of not only the lawmakers' offices, which are responsible for preparing political fund accounting reports, but also the election commission overseeing them.

According to the 'Income and Expenditure Report of the 21st National Assembly Members at Term Expiration' obtained by Asia Economy through an information disclosure request from the National Election Commission, former lawmaker Kim's 'support group donation' account balance at the end of his term was -40,288,332 won. On March 6 this year, about three months before the term ended, he spent 8,355,659 won from the support group donation account for 'sending constituency report text messages,' which brought the balance to -7,511,471 won, and by May 29, the negative amount had increased more than fivefold.

On the other hand, the 'assets' account of former lawmaker Kim's political funds had 40,288,332 won remaining at the end of the term. The amount was exactly the same down to the won unit as the support group donation account. The reason for this occurrence is that the accounting officer confused the records of fund sources while reconciling Kim's 'assets' account and 'support group donation' account in the report. In a phone interview with Asia Economy, Kim explained, "Last year, the entire amount raised by the support group should have been transferred to the (support group donation account) by the end of the year, but some amount remained (in the assets account), which seems to have caused a practical mistake."

There are two main political fund accounts for lawmakers. One is the 'candidate's own assets' account under the lawmaker's name, and the other is the 'support group donation' account raised by supporters. The problem is that each lawmaker's office has customarily mixed the assets of the two accounts as if they were one account, and errors occur when classifying them while preparing accounting reports at year-end or before term expiration.

The misrecording found in former lawmaker Go's accounting report is a similar case. The person responsible for the accounting report at that time explained, "We processed the candidate's asset account and the support group donation account separately and entered them into the accounting reporting program, but during the division of amounts, we miscalculated and entered 210,000 won more in the asset account, causing a negative balance in the donation account." However, he added, "There was no problem with the total expenditure amount and total balance, so the election commission did not raise any issues at the time."

Is former lawmaker Kim's explanation true? The election commission, which supervises lawmakers' political fund accounting reports, partially acknowledged the accounting misrecording in both cases but explained that there is no legal problem with the use of funds. An election commission official said in a phone interview, "Even if these two accounting reports contain clerical errors, if there is no illegality in the use of funds and the format complies with Article 40, Paragraph 4 of the Political Funds Act, it is possible to accept the reports at the relevant election commission."

Article 40, Paragraph 4 (Accounting Report) of the Political Funds Act specifies seven format requirements for reports. For example, △ a statement of political fund income and expenditure △ copies of receipts and other supporting documents △ copies of deposit and withdrawal bankbooks △ auditor's opinion (only for central parties and their support groups) △ transfer and acceptance documents of remaining assets (only for those obligated to transfer), etc. In conclusion, the election commission's position is that if there is no trace of illegal use of election funds and the report meets the formal requirements, simple clerical errors can be tolerated.

Nevertheless, controversy remains. Even if there was no illegal use of political funds, false accounting reports are subject to punishment under Article 46 of the Political Funds Act. According to this, "A person who submits a false report or falsifies or forges receipts or other supporting documents related to income and expenditure" is subject to imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 6 million won.