[Editorial] Government Should Clarify Responsibilities for `Wasting Government Raised Funds`

The `government raised funds` were wasted as if it was an ownerless money. The funds were not only squandered away, but it was also embezzled by all parties.

It was just few days ago that the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) announced the fact that 7 trillion won was embezzled because of the government`s mismanagement of the public funds. Moreover, the BAI pointed out that even the `Brain Korea (BK) 21` funds of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) were misused. And the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) also wasted 20 billion won, including overpaid holiday working allowance.

It is needless to say the legal and ethical responsibilities of the owners and executives of the troubled companies and financial institutions who stashed away their properties in homes and foreign countries instead of paying back the public funds, and the responsibilities of the people who received the BK21 funds were disqualified along with the universities who misused the funds. And the corruption of the government invested companies` booty sharing of the people`s `tax` is not newly revealed one.

What raises the people`s anger more than the corruptions is the related authorities` woeful working attitudes that neglected to control the misuse of the `government raised funds`. One of the important duties of the government is to supervise and administrate the use of the `government raised funds` in detail. It is questionable whether the government is overlooking the corruptions or if it does not have the ability to supervise.

Especially, the problem of the public funds should not be settled by confiscating the properties of the owners and executives of the troubled companies and financial institutions and by taking legal actions against them. The government must thoroughly investigate the whole managerial process of the public funds, including the fund raising and exercises, in order to clarify the responsibilities. The excuse that the government made some inevitable mistakes in a national emergency situation, the supervision of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), would increase people`s anger and stimulate a sense of tax-resistance. It is not a problem which can be easily dealt with.

President Kim Dae-Jung said on Saturday, "The government are also responsible for failing to thoroughly manage the public funds. If misappropriations by the government officials are found, I will ask the responsibility and issue a proper punishment." It means that the government admitted its responsibility. But, the people already judged that the government`s misappropriation of the public funds was an already revealed fact.

The government should prepare a special measure to prevent the leakage of the `government raised funds` which was already established through tax. Thus, first of all, the people demand the government to clarify the responsibilities of the related authorities that supervise and manage the `government raised funds`.