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[wylies99]

Tax Service Riddled With Corruption

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808130025.html
Prosecutors raided a bar in the affluent Gangnam area of southern Seoul on Monday as part of an investigation into allegations that former National Tax Service chief Lee Ju-sung had managed billions of won through a bank account in another person�s name. Prosecutors had verified the transfer of hundreds of millions of won into Lee�s borrowed-name account by the owner of the bar. Prosecutors are now investigating whether Lee used the woman�s account to launder money or manage his funds.
In May, prosecutors discovered billions of won believed to belong to Lee in accounts set up in the names of his brother in law, secretary and an executive of a major business conglomerate. Prosecutors made the discovery as they were investigating a case where a presidential secretary under the Roh Moo-hyun administration is accused of lobbying tax officials to halt an audit of a shipping company. The money that was discovered was far more than the W1.78 billion (US$1=W1,035) Lee had reported to authorities before his term ended in June of 2006. Because the money was stashed in scores of borrowed-name accounts, prosecutors believe they were bribes Lee had received during his tenure as tax chief. But as befits a tax expert, the money has been laundered impeccably, giving prosecutors a tough time in their investigation.

In November last year, National Tax Service commissioner Jeon Goon-pyo was given a three-and-a-half-year prison term for receiving W80 million in bribes from the former Busan tax chief. It was later revealed that Jeon, in a mafia-style move, had dispatched a junior officer to the cells to warn the former Busan tax chief to keep his mouth shut.

On the day of his inauguration, former NTS chief Ahn Jung-nam is said to have climbed a mountain and bowed 100 times praying for upright tax practices. But after he became construction minister in 2001, Ahn was discovered to have been involved in billions of won worth of real estate speculation in Gangnam while evading gift taxes, and he quit only 20 days after assuming the post. Ahn even fled to overseas before it was revealed in 2001 that he had downsized the amount of taxes owed by a loanshark.

Ahn�s successor Sohn Young-lae was indicted on charges of ordering the reduction of W7 billion in taxes owed by the Sun and Moon Group to W2.5 billion. If you include three other former NTS chiefs who had to go to court on charges of illegal campaign fund collection, almost half of the 16 former tax chiefs have been involved in corruption scandals.

With top tax officials hiding illicit money in borrowed-name accounts, receiving bribes and discounting back taxes, lower-tier tax officials probably have little incentive to remain on the straight and narrow. This unprecedented level of corruption at the top of the NTS shows just how far we have to go in order to establish proper tax practices.

[Adventurer]

The true disease in Korea is not mad cow disease, but the massive corruption inside and outside of the government i.e. both in the private and public sectors.