First trial, application for unconstitutionality review also dismissed
It is likely to have an impact on lawsuits involving Park Sung-geun and others.
Yu “Suspended lawsuit… “Expectation on system improvement”
▲ Yoo Byeong-ho, Secretary General of the Board of Audit and Inspection, is sitting at the 2nd plenary session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the 407th National Assembly held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul last June. Reporter Oh Jang-hwan Yoo Byeong-ho, Secretary General of the Board of Audit and Inspection, filed a lawsuit on the 12th against the government’s decision to dispose of bio company stocks (820 million won) owned by his spouse, but lost in the first trial. The court ruled that “there is job-relatedness under the Public Official Ethics Act.” The court also did not accept Secretary-General Yoo’s argument that the blind trust system, which requires incumbent public officials to entrust the management and disposal of their property to a third party while in office, is unconstitutional. Secretary General Yoo accepted the court’s decision and announced that he would not file an appeal.
On this day, the 8th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Director Lee Jeong-hee) ruled in favor of the government in the lawsuit filed by Secretary General Yoo against the Stock Trust Review Committee, asking “to cancel the decision to recognize job relevance.” It did not accept Secretary-General Yoo’s claim that forced sale or trust of stocks acquired by a spouse while working or contributing to a related company for a long period of time, regardless of the person’s job, is a violation of property rights.
When Secretary General Yoo reported the assets of high-ranking public officials in September last year, he reported the stocks held by himself, his spouse, and his children and requested a review of job relevance to the Stock Trust Review Committee. At this time, the issue was the share of the bio company among the stocks held by Secretary-General Yoo’s spouse. At the time of the report, the Stock Blind Trust Review Committee decided to sell (blind trust) the bio stock in question because there was a potential conflict of interest, and Secretary General Yoo filed an administrative lawsuit against the decision.
The court ruled, “This company, in which the spouse owns shares, falls under the Board of Audit and Inspection’s ‘selective audit company,’” and concluded, “In light of the authority and scope of work of the secretary-general as stipulated in the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, job relevance is recognized under the Public Service Ethics Act.” .
In addition, the court did not accept Secretary-General Yoo’s request for an unconstitutionality review of Article 14-4 of the Public Service Ethics Act, which stipulates the duty of stakeholders, such as spouses of public officials, to blindly trust stocks. The court said, “The relevant clause does not exclude a person holding stocks from becoming a public official,” and added, “There are concerns that holding stocks related to one’s job could interfere with the fair execution of one’s duties, so it is necessary to sell or trust the stocks and then hold a public office.” “We are asking them to step forward,” he explained.
Secretary General Yoo said, “We will respect the court’s judgment. “We will not proceed with any further lawsuits,” he said. “We hope that the government and the social community will work together to improve the system in a reasonable way.” At the same time, regarding how to dispose of stocks, he said, “It is related to the spouse’s career and property rights, so the spouse will decide.”
This decision is expected to have an impact on other high-ranking public officials’ lawsuits against the blind trust. Prime Minister Park Sung-geun, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, filed an administrative lawsuit on the 16th of last month, disobeying the government’s decision to place 4.6 billion won worth of company stock in a blind trust for his spouse, who is an executive director of a construction company.
Reporters Baek Seo-yeon and Seo Yu-mi
2023-09-12 14:45:18
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