Public Prosecution Office "Judgment of reduced punishment for voluntary reporting of collusion case"... Confusion with the Heavy Water Administration

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Yun-seon = The Public Prosecution Office has decided to revise the established regulations related to the leniency system for voluntary reporters of collusion cases and take on the responsibility of accepting voluntary reports and deciding on penalty reductions.

However, confusion is expected as the Serious Crimes Investigation Office has also decided to take over the leniency.

According to the legal community on the 25th, the Public Prosecution Office revised the ‘Guidelines on the Processing Procedure for Applications for Penalty Reduction in Cartel Cases’ on the 16th.

The leniency system is a system in which individuals or companies involved in collusion are not indicted or have their sentences reduced if they voluntarily report and cooperate with the investigation and trial.

According to the revised regulations, the Public Prosecution Office receives and reviews voluntary reports from companies, etc., and if it determines that it is necessary to proceed with the procedure, it sends the original materials, such as the application form, to the investigative agency.

Afterwards, the investigative agency will proceed with the investigation and transfer the case, and the prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Office will make the final decision on punishment reduction.

Previously, the legal community pointed out that with the implementation of the revised Criminal Procedure Act on the 2nd of this month, the investigative power of prosecutors was completely abolished and the Central Investigation Office was launched, leaving a vacuum in the hands of the operator of the leniency system.

Lenience was applied based on the established rules of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (currently the Public Prosecution Office) rather than laws, and it was not decided who would operate it and on what basis in the process of separating investigative and prosecution powers.

This revision of the Public Prosecution Service's regulations is interpreted as an attempt to resolve this problem.

However, as the Heavy Water Administration recently established a policy of accepting voluntary reports of leniency, confusion over the operation of the system itself may continue.

It has been reported that the Heavy Water Administration recently confirmed the application process for leniency and announced the acceptance policy internally.