Reports on Improper Solicitations Saw Great Reduction from 3,330 cases in 2018 to 369 cases in 2022

• Reports on violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act amounted to 1,404 cases last year of which 416 people received sanctions including criminal punishment

• ACRC requested relevant agencies take corrective measures for multiple reported cases of violations identified as improperly handled

• ACRC released the result of an inspection of 2022 operational status of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act

ACRC revealed that 1,404 cases of reports on violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act were received by public institutions of various levels, and 416 public officials faced sanctions including criminal punishment last year. In particular, violations of the Act reported last year amounted to 369 cases, a huge reduction compared to 3,330 cases reported in 2018.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced on 29^th June the result of an inspection of 2022 operational status of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act by public institutions. This inspection was conducted by the ACRC with a focus on the operational status of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act by public institutions of various levels, including reports on violations received by public institutions up to last year since the first year of the implementation of the Act (28^th Sep. 2016), contents of cases handled, and education/consulting services provided by public institutions.

Until the end of December last year since the Act came into force in 2016, public institutions of various levels have received a total of 13,524 cases of reports on violations. By type of violation, improper solicitation was the most frequent with 8,211 cases reported (60.7%) followed by receipt of money, goods, etc. amounting to 4,900 cases (36.2%), and excessive honoraria for outside lectures, etc. with 413 cases reported (3.1%).

Looking at the trend of reports on violations by year, the number of reports increased to a great extent from 1,568 cases in 2017 to 4,386 cases in 2018, but since then, reports have been continuously decreased. However, there was a slight increase last year with 1,404 cases reported.

In the case of reports related to receipt of money, goods, etc. the number of cases reported have been declining since the implementation of the Act, but last year, it saw a slight increase which seems attributable to stricter enforcement of the law by the incumbent administration.

On the other hand, ACRC has found that there was a great reduction in the number of improper solicitation-related reports, which saw a continuous drop since 2019, by 89% compared to 2018 when 3,330 cases were reported, with public institutions receiving 369 cases last year. This reduction seems to result from constant efforts from the government to eradicate hiring irregularities in public institutions.

< Trend of Reports on Violation by Year (Unit: cases) >

(부정청탁 Improper solicitation 금품수수 Receipt of money, goods, etc. 외부강의 Outside lectures 합계 Total)

For the same period, the number of public officials, etc. who faced disposition of sanctions due to violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act stood at a total of 1,879 among which 1,767 received sanctions for taking money, goods, etc. and 101 for improper solicitations.

By type of disposition of sanction, those who received administrative fines, disciplinary additional charge, and criminal punishment amounted to 1,232 (65.6%), 391 (20.8%), and 256 (13.6) officials, respectively.

Approximately 99.4% out of the public institutions inspected have designated improper solicitation prevention officers to deal with the matters related to the implementation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, including education, consulting, receipt of reports, investigation and processing of reports on violations.

In addition, public institutions of various levels excluding a few newly established ones were found that they have been faithfully fulfilling their duties to operate institutions under the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, including by running integrity training programs for their public officials, etc. more than twice a year on average.

ACRC has identified a total of 24 improperly handled cases of reports and requested that public institutions that closed cases of those who received money, goods, etc. after merely imposing disciplinary actions without referring the cases to investigation agencies for further inspection or that imposed penalties only on the bribed, rather than also imposing administrative fines on the briber should take corrective measures.

ACRC plans to engage in thorough follow-up management for public institutions to push for corrective measures they have been requested, by reflecting whether they have implemented those measures or not into their assessment of comprehensive integrity level.

Furthermore, ACRC will reinforce the enforcement of the law based on the result of the inspection conducted this time through sharing cases of frequently reported violations and improperly handled reports by institution at a workshop for officials in charge of prevention of improper solicitations in the future.

ACRC Vice Chairperson and Secretary General Chung Seung Yun said, “the fact-finding inspection of the status of operation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act by public institutions conducted every year is mainly aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the law, including identification of institutional vulnerabilities and institutional improvement areas and demanding of public institutions to take corrective measures,” adding that “ACRC will strengthen education for improper solicitation prevention officers of each public institution to be able to execute the law in a strict manner.”