CIO faces criticism

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) has faced criticism after failing to execute an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is accused of being the mastermind (chief instigator) behind the proclamation of martial law on December 3. Critics argue that this incident represents another dent in the agency's reputation. They also contend that this outcome was predictable given the lack of any achievements by the nascent agency since its establishment in 2021 and the unprecedented nature of the case it was tasked with handling.

The legal and law enforcement community did not hide their doubts about the agency from the moment the investigation into President Yoon was entirely handed over to the CIO. For the past four years since its launch in January 2021, the CIO has failed to detain even a single suspect or secure a single conviction. The only partial success, a first-instance guilty verdict against Chief Prosecutor Son Jun-sung in the so-called "accusation orchestrations" case, was overturned in the appeals court.

The CIO made some serious mistakes during that chief prosecutor case. The agency requested a detention warrant immediately after its arrest warrant against Prosecutor Sohn was dismissed, but it was rejected once again. Its search and seizure operation results against Rep. Kim Oong of the People Power Party became unprecedentedly invalid because the applicable legal procedure was flawed. For the second instance, the judges ruled all the evidence the CIO collected via the Prosecutors' Office intranet and the Criminal Justice Information System website as illegal because the agency did not guarantee Sohn's participation rights, making all that evidence inadmissible.

Some point out that the CIO should have set up a joint investigation headquarters with the Special Investigation Headquarters at the Prosecutors' Office. The legal community noted that if a joint investigation by the CIO, the Prosecutors' Office and the Police would not have given Yoon any excuse to refuse the investigation. The CIO has reportedly declined the Prosecutors' Office proposal for a joint investigation three times. Some from the legal community are now urging a Special Prosecutor for the case before the entire investigation is further compromised.


Dong-Jun Heo hungry@donga.com