Names of illegal rice subsidy recipients may become public

(ATTN: CHANGES slug; RECASTS lead, headline; UPDATES with chief auditor's press conference in paras 4, 5; RESTRUCTURES and TRIMS)
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- The snowballing scandal over raking officials' alleged
snatching of state farming subsidies entered a new phase Wednesday, as the state
audit board said it will restore the formerly discarded list of illegal
recipients.

Recent reports revealed at least 500 billion won (US$367 million) in government
subsidies intended to support rice producers went to millions of ineligible
applicants over the past four years, triggering widespread anger among the
nation's farmers.
Thousands of public servants, including at least seven high-ranking officials and
four legislators, are believed to be related to the case, but authorities have
been refusing to release the exact number or names, fueling further disputes.
After being the first to trigger the growing corruption scam, the vice health
minister was replaced Tuesday as the fourth Cabinet member to leave the office
since President Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated late February.
"We discarded the list for the sake of personal protections, but decided to
restore it to ease the social turmoil," Kim Hwang-sik, chairman of Board of Audit
and Inspection, told an unscheduled press meeting Wednesday.
Although the case hinges on the state audit board's disclosure of the names of
the illegal subsidy takers, it has been reluctant to do so, insisting old files
-- holding names of more than 200,000 illegal recipients -- have already been
discarded. Making the list again would take about two weeks, the chief auditor
had said last week.
The rice farming subsidy system was established in 2005 under the Roh
administration to support low-income farmers who protested the opening of the
Korean rice market to cheaper imports. Only those who actually produce rice --
excluding those who simply own rice paddies -- are eligible for the state
subsidies.
Political parties, meanwhile, continued to quarrel over which government was more
to blame for the growing scam, failing to make much progress in the discussions
for the upcoming parliamentary probe.
An independent probe by the parliament is on the way as rival parties agreed
Monday on the necessity of investigations separate to those by legal authorities
and the audit board. Prosecutors are currently investigating the former vice
health minister and two ruling party legislators.
Holding the former Roh Moo-hyun government accountable for failing to address the
errors in the subsidy system earlier, the ruling Grand National Party hinted at
calling the former president as a witness in the scheduled investigation.
"Former President Roh is one of the many that could be called for questioning,"
the party's floor leader Hong Joon-pyo said. "There is a need to get to the
bottom of suspicions that the audit board deliberately discarded audit data under
Roh's orders."
While instructing thorough investigations and the retrieval of subsidies that
went to ineligible recipients, President Lee Myung-bak had also made clear
Wednesday that his government was "not directly responsible" for the widespread
abuses in the subsidy system.
Labeling the move "politically-motivated," Roh's aides said it was out of
question to call him as a witness.
"(It is) an apparent political move that is not even worth answering," said Kim
Kyung-soo, Roh's secretary.
The main opposition Democratic Party pressed for disclosure of the names of those
involved, accusing the incumbent administration of providing cover for its
officials.
"The public and the farmers will not trust a parliamentary investigation based
upon a list that has first been censored by the government," party leader Chung
Sye-kyun said. "We need a complete list and that's the bottom line."
"This is not a matter of which government is to blame," he added. "Both the
former and the incumbent governments should pay the price."
Observers say officials and legislators who own land likely applied for the
subsidies in order to evade heavy property taxes, as the country's tax law
requires individuals to farm the land for at least eight years to receive tax
deductions. It does not require proof that applicants are the actual farmers.
Up to 280,000 of the 998,000 people who received rice farming subsidies in 2006
alone were found to be "non-farmers," according to the audit agency. Of those,
about 3,900 were listed as public servants, while 6,200 were employees of
state-run corporations.
Many of the ranking officials now under suspicion have worked for both the Roh
and the Lee administrations, implicating both sides of the political divide.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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