Propriety of public fund use debated

With the agreement by both the ruling and the opposition parties for the National Assembly administrative audit of the budget allocation and injection of public funds, the so-called bottomless pit soon might have a beam of light shining down into it.

Both the ruling and the opposition parties eagerly have called for the inspection of the effectiveness and justification for public fund injections, which had not had much system of restraint up to now.

¡®Stop trying to fill cracked urn with water!¡¯

"The government has been trying too long to fill the cracked urn rather than mend the cracks," Lee Hoi-Chang, chairman of the opposition Grand National Party , said during the chairmen's speech of the National Assembly regular session. "President Kim Dae-Jung should appear at the National Assembly and explain in detail the uses of the public funds."

The opposition GNP is of the opinion that much of the establishment, the accounting and collection of the public money is carried out through the accounting method of finger counting.

"The public fund is managed without any responsible agency to oversee its management,¡± Rep. Lee Han-Gu said. ¡°As such, it has been open to rampant moral laxity from the allocation to distribution to accounting procedures. We will seek accountability of all members involved."

¡®Let us clear the air!¡¯

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party, which earlier had been cold to the public fund investigation, has done a turnabout with the start of the National Assembly audit and inspection.

"We will look into whether the public funds were used justifiably and transparently, whether a moral laxity existed in the financial institutions and whether the budgeted 109 trillion won was appropriate," Rep. Jung Sae-Gyun said.

Also, a closer inspection of the possibility of collection, the appropriateness of the selection for the public fund injections and the sincere measures adopted by institutions that benefited from the public funds were called for.

Schedule and witness selection

Concerning the time table for the start of the National Assembly audit and inspection, the two parties are at odds. The ruling MDP seeks to commence the audit after the approval of supplemental 40 trillion won in public funds allocation submitted by the government.

On the other hand, the opposition GNP stressed that the audit and inspection must determine the appropriateness of the public fund budget allocation prior to the approval of additional funding. As such, the opposition GNP called for the National Assembly audit and inspection to start Nov. 17 following the wrap-up of the current inspection of the government.

As for those who would take the witness stand, Minister of Finance and Economy Jin Nyum, former Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hun-Jai, former Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission Lee Yong-Geun, Hanvit Bank president Kim Jin-Man and Association of Banks president (former president of Korea First Bank) Yoo Si-Yeul are being considered.