Even without Yoon Seok-yeol… Three civil servants passed the trial for’removing nuclear data’

Officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, arrested for deleting data related to the Wolseong nuclear power plant No. 1, were handed over to trial. This is the first time a prosecution has been made in connection with the alleged manipulation of the economic feasibility evaluation of Wolseong Unit 1.

Daejeon District Prosecutor’s Office 5th Criminal Division (Director Sang-Hyun Lee) announced on the 23rd that it had prosecuted a government official A (52) and a secretary at the level of the Ministry of Industry, who were accused of damage to public electronic records and violating the Audit and Inspection Service Act, and prosecuted Mr. . They are alleged to have deleted 530 documents related to Wolsong Unit 1 in November last year, just before the submission of data to the Audit Office, or to condone or aided them.

An official at the prosecution said, “In order to hinder the auditor’s audit, we indicted three public officials who broke into the office and deleted data such as the early shutdown of the Wolsong nuclear power plant,” and said, “We plan to continue investigating the additional crimes of the accused and related persons. I said.

Mr. B entered the office of the Ministry of Industry of the Government’s Sejong Government Building at around 11 p.m. on the 1st (Sunday), when an interview with the auditor was scheduled in the morning of December 2 (Monday) last year, and for two hours, he deleted 530 documents related to the Wolseong nuclear power plant unit 1 It was investigated. Mr. B stated, “I was in a hurry because (the manager at the time) ordered that it would be better to delete the data on the weekend,” said the auditor and the prosecution. The day after Mr. B deleted the data, the auditor visited the Ministry of Industry and took the relevant PC.

The crime of damaging public electronic records is the act of falsifying documents prepared by public officials and is subject to punishment up to 10 years in prison. Violation of the Audit and Inspection Service Act is subject to a fine of up to one year in prison or up to 10 million won.

The prosecuted officials of the Ministry of Industry were working-level staff who prepared various reports for the early shutdown of the Wolseong nuclear power plant and reported them to the Blue House and former Minister of Industry, Baek Un-gyu. The prosecution, who confiscated and searched the Ministry of Industry and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) on the 5th to 6th of last month, arrested officials of the Ministry of Industry, and then called KHNP employees directly involved in the operation and shutdown of the Wolseong nuclear power plant to investigate. The key was whether there was a so-called’superior’ command and involvement in the decision to close the nuclear power plant early.

The prosecution also intensively investigated the involvement of former Minister Paik Woon-gyu, then head of the Ministry of Industry, and Chae Hee-bong, president of Korea Gas Corporation, who was the industrial policy secretary of the Blue House. So far, no summons investigation has been conducted on Baek and President Chae. The prosecution plans to additionally prosecute KHNP employees, apart from officials from the Ministry of Industry.

However, inside and outside the prosecution, there are concerns that the power of the investigation will decline as Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who has been directing the case, is suspended for two months. On the 24th of last month, President Yoon received a “job exclusion disposition” from Justice Minister Chu Miae, and after returning within a week, he directly ordered a request for an arrest warrant for a government official of the Ministry of Industry. The movement of Daejeon District Prosecutor’s Office Lee Doo-bong is also counted as a variable when the Ministry of Justice’s regular greeting is scheduled for next month.

Daejeon = Reporter Shin Jinho [email protected]