[Editorial] Why did Assembly shirk probe into irregular public fund injection?

The parliamentary inquiry into the irregular injection of public funds has ended as a virtual failure. The National Assembly was to investigate the process of accumulating massive amounts of public funds and their appropriation. If it found any wrong doings in the disposition of the taxpayers` money, the Assembly was to rectify them and make the findings a lesson for the operation of public funds in the future. Disappointingly, however, the assembly hearing could not be convened owing to inter-party wrangling over some trifle, technical problems.

In the meantime, the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), staging rallies outside the parliament every day, is taking the political offensive with its allegations that the government had mismanaged the public funds, while suspicions surrounding the injection of the public funds are deepening daily. Nonsensically enough, in the face of the opposition`s offensive, the financial authorities are coming out to clarify the opposition`s allegations or exposures on the inappropriate infusion of public funds through regular, daily briefings to the media.

The Assembly hearing was originally designed to hear such government explanations on the matter from the authorities, yet the opposition parties, by deserting the parliamentary chamber, are now spearheading a drive that is going nowhere. If the government handled the controversial funds properly, why did not it persuade the ruling party lawmakers to hear openly its explanations in the Assembly session?

Even though there may be errors in the GNP`s assertions, a considerable part of their contents can be viewed as raising suspicions over the government authorities. If it is true that the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation approved 99 percent of the financial requests and endorsed the disbursement of some 90 percent of the total fund merely through the examination of the application documents, this is very disappointing. This is because the corporation, which was established with a mission to manage the fund thoroughly and justly, has been found to have rubber-stamped the government`s initiatives. For this reason, the government and the ruling party may have avoided the parliamentary hearings about the public fund appropriation.

Specifically, it is deemed necessary to pay attention to the GNP`s assertion contradicting the government¡¯s announcement. Also the allegation that hundreds of billions of won have been misused by employees of the financial institutions needs to be probed. The failure of the public hearings cannot be justified for whatever reason at a time when a spate of suspicions has been raised over the dissipation of the huge amounts of public money.

If the government has nothing to conceal, there is little reason to forestall the hearings, whether the questioning will be comprehensive or specific. If the session for the hearing was aborted owing to a partisan dispute over technical procedure, the raison d`etre of the legislature comes into question.

The probe into the injection of public funds cannot be left in this manner. If the Assembly gives up its inquiry into the matter, there is a fear that in future public funds will be managed in an even more irresponsible way. The National Assembly is once again urged to normalize its functions for the hearings.