The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials building at the government complex in Gwacheon. Yonhap News

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) launched an inquiry into People Power Party lawmaker A for allegedly receiving illegal political contributions. An inquiry is the preliminary stage before an official investigation. If the inquiry leads to an investigation, this will be the first investigation of a lawmaker conducted by the new investigation office.

According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun coverage on August 10, the Corruption Investigation Office sent an official letter to the Gyeongsangbuk-do Election Commission on August 6 asking the commission to cooperate in an investigation and submit investigation records on lawmaker A. The Gyeongsangbuk-do Election Commission, which has jurisdiction over A’s constituency, plans to soon send the CIO investigation records on B, a former city council member who gave A 20 million won in contributions, along with a request for an investigation that the commission sent to the Prosecution Service.

Earlier, the Election Commission confirmed that B had sent A the contributions under an alias and requested the Prosecution Service for an investigation into B on May 27, 2020. However, the Election Commission deemed that A received the money without knowing that it was illegal and did not include A in the investigation request. According to the Political Funds Act, it is not a crime if the lawmaker (or candidate) is not aware that the contributions are illegal. The prosecutors also accepted the statements by A and B, claiming that they did not know each other, and only indicted B. The court recognized the charge against B, that he gave the contributions under an alias to get nominated as a candidate for the city council and was sentenced to a fine of 12 million won in the first trial.

The Corruption Investigation Office launched an inquiry into A to see if the prosecutors were “lenient” in their investigation. It was recently pointed out that it was unlikely for A and B to not know each other, since B served as the vice chairman of the party member council, chairman of the development advisory board, and chairman of the association of self-organizing groups in A’s district.

If the Corruption Investigation Office prosecutes A, this will be the first investigation of a lawmaker conducted by the new investigative agency. So far, the CIO has launched probes into ten cases. However, except for the alleged favors in recruitment by Cho Hee-yeon, the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the investigations all target the Prosecution Service.