ACRC Prohibits Special Promotion of Those Who Were Punished for Accepting Bribe, Sexual Violence, and Recruitment Irregularities

- The commission conducted a corruption risk assessment on 1,224 bylaws of 13 public organizations in the educational and cultural sectors and made 82 recommendations -

(7th July 2021, ACRC)

In the future, employees of public organizations will be excluded from special promotion if they have been punished for accepting bribe, sexual violence and recruitment irregularities. Also, managers in department head position or higher will not be able to enjoy the mitigation of disciplinary measures even if they have award(acknowledgement) given by the head of the public office.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (Chairperson: Jeon Hyun-Heui, ACRC) carried out corruption risk assessment of 1,224 corporate bylaws of public agencies in the educational and cultural sectors, including Korea Tourism Organization, Korean Institute for Healthy Family, and recommended 82 areas for improvement and 29 tasks in 3 categories.

According to major findings, some organizations had bylaws allowing special promotion of those who greatly contributed to the development of the organizations even after disciplinary measures were taken for accepting bribe, embezzlement of public funds, sexual violence, recruitment irregularities, and so on.

Some organizations also had unclear and vague rules. For instance, there were organizations that 1) did not specify that ‘managerial positions from heads of departments or above’ are excluded from mitigation of disciplinary measures considering previous awards (accomplishment) granted by the head of such organization; 2) did not specify that ‘wrongfully using authority vested in a public office (so-called gapjil)’ is a misconduct for which mitigation of discipline is not applicable; or 3) allowed private agreements ‘when it is inevitable and the CEO acknowledges that they are needed.’

The ACRC recommended to improve the rules, so that those who have been punished for accepting bribe, sexual violence, or recruitment irregularities shall be excluded from special promotion.

It also recommended organizations to exclude ‘managerial positions from heads of departments or above’ from mitigation of discipline considering previous awards (accomplishment) granted by the head of organization, and to specify that ‘wrongful use of authority vested in a public office’ is a misconduct for which mitigation of discipline is not applicable.

Moreover, it requested organizations to make the reasons for private agreement clear and specific to prevent responsible people from abusing their discretionary power through arbitrary interpretation in agreement closing processes.

Aside from this, for those organizations that did not specify the duration of employment notice in the their bylaws, the commission recommended them to set a minimum duration of employment notice to ensure fair and open competition in the recruitment process and to provide equal employment opportunity.

The ACRC also recommended organizations to ban private contracts for two years with the companies which hired former employees of such organizations in executive positions in order to prevent preferential treatment.

The ACRC has conducted a full investigation of corporate bylaws of 495 public agencies since last year. Last year, the commission reviewed bylaws of 187 agencies in seven areas, including the energy, airport and port sectors, and made 1,793 recommendations. This year, it looks into bylaws of 99 quasi-government agencies in seven sectors by beginning with bylaw review of 20 public organizations in the labor and welfare sectors.

Chairperson Jeon Hyun-Heui of the ACRC said, “the commission will make fair and transparent society by actively identifying and improving elements in the bylaws of public agencies that can cause corruption, such as conflict of interest, or excessive use of discretionary power.