Cheong Wa Dae Pushing For Transfer of Audit Authority to Parliament

The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae was reported on Sunday to be considering the transfer of audit authority of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) to the National Assembly.

"Recently President Roh ordered consideration of the transfer of the audit authority to the Assembly," a senior aide to President Roh Moo-hyun said. "But some legal experts say that the Constitution stipulates that BAI is an agency under the control of the president, so the revision of the Constitution is needed beforehand. So legal matters are now being reviewed."

"Because many experts say that with BAI still having inspection authority, transferring the audit authority to the National Assembly does not run counter to the principle of checks and balances, so we are exploring ways to transfer without constitutional revision," he added.

Earlier, at a dinner meeting with National Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong and leaders of the ruling and opposition parties at Cheong Wa Dae, President Roh told Mr. Park that he would give him a gift. He was said to have hinted that he would transfer the audit authority to the National Assembly.

The National Assembly has insisted that the audit authority should be given in order for it to strengthen its status and perform its function of supervising the government’s budgets efficiently.

However, BAI is strongly opposed to the idea saying that if the National Assembly has the authority, there could be conflicting interests between constituencies and political parties, so political lines can affect the function of audit.

Meanwhile, the president made a pledge to transfer the BAI’s audit authority to the National Assembly when the Constitution is revised during the presidential campaign last year.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com