Cases Involving CIO and Fraud Under 500 Million Won Excluded from Mandatory Reporting to Major Crimes Investigation Agency

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has decided to significantly narrow the scope of crimes that other investigative agencies must report to the newly established Major Crimes Investigation Agency (MCIA).

Cases handled by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) will be excluded from the reporting requirement, as will cases of fraud, extortion, embezzlement, and breach of trust involving gains of less than 500 million won.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced this revised legislative notice for the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Organization and Operation of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency today.

Previously, in the legislative notice issued last month, the Ministry had mandated that other investigative agencies—including the police, the CIO, military investigative agencies, and special judicial police—must report to the MCIA if they become aware of major crimes during their investigations.

At that time, cases where the details of complaints or accusations were unclear, or where there was no practical benefit to the investigation, such as in the event of a suspect's death, were already excluded from the reporting requirement.

However, during the legislative notice period, the CIO expressed opposition, arguing that requiring the reporting of all detected cases to the MCIA could infringe upon its independence. The police also raised concerns that the administrative burden would be excessive, as they would be required to report approximately 580,000 cases annually.

In response, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety expanded the list of exclusions in the revised legislative notice.

Cases deemed to have no practical investigative benefit—such as those where complaints, accusations, petitions, or reports lack clarity or specific facts—remain excluded. Additionally, the revised plan excludes high-ranking official crimes under the CIO Act, as well as fraud, extortion, embezzlement, and breach of trust under the Criminal Act that do not fall under the aggravated punishment provisions of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes (i.e., cases involving gains of less than 500 million won).

The Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes stipulates aggravated punishment for fraud, extortion, embezzlement, and breach of trust when the gains involved are 500 million won or more.

Nevertheless, the head of the MCIA may request that the head of another investigative agency report relevant facts if they determine that an investigation is necessary, taking into account the nature of the case, its social impact, or its connection to other related cases.

The head of an investigative agency who receives such a request must comply unless there is a justifiable reason not to.

An official from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained, "We determined that there is no need to include the CIO as a reporting entity, as it is a separate investigative agency with a different jurisdiction."

The administrative burden on the police is also expected to be reduced significantly.

The official stated, "By excluding property crimes that do not fall under the aggravated punishment provisions of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, the number of cases the police are required to report to the MCIA is expected to drop from approximately 580,000 to around 75,000 per year," adding, "We adjusted the scope of reporting by comprehensively considering both the response capability for major crimes and the administrative burden on other investigative agencies."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.