Drafted by Transparency International Korea on June 9th, 2020
1. What is Ombudsman?
Originally a Swedish term, an Ombudsman refers to an official appointed by the government or parliament who is in charge of investigating and resolving various petitions raised by citizens. Ombudsman may have a right to indict, but in general, they do not. The etymological root of the word itself could be found from an old Swedish word umbuðsmann, meaning a parliamentary agent. An 1809 Swedish parliament ombudsman is widely thought of as the world’s first Ombudsman. Although they could play various roles, the main role of Ombudsman is to ensure the protection of civil rights as much as possible by complementing the limitations of civil remedy system done by parliamentary interventions on the lack of protection of rights due to the diversifications of administrative power and an increase in discretionary power. (Wikipedia)
2. The characteristics of an Ombudsman
If Ombudsman is defined as a system that complements or resolves problems that might appear in bureaucracy’s structural limitations in a non-bureaucratic way, specific terms such as fairness, independence, speed, accessibility, and confidentiality could be raised as structural characteristics that must be maintained to preserve the nature of the organization.
(Park, Jae Chang. “The Historical Background and Structural Characteristics of the Rise of Ombudsman.” Regional Ombudsman’ Citizen Ombudsman of Korea’, The Ombudsman of Korea, 2007.)
3. What is Integrity Ombudsman?
- An appointed external professional or citizen to enhance the transparency of public sector administration
- Counsel, diagnose, and examine public sector’s projects and corruption-weak areas from an independent third party’s perspective
- A proactive anti-corruption system
4. Ombudsman and Citizen Auditor
* Disclaimer: In 2008, Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) of the Republic of Korea was launched, which brought together three separate organizations; Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption, The Ombudsman of Korea, and Administrative Appeals Commission.
1) Common Point
As the agent of the people, both Ombudsman and Citizen Auditor resolves conflicts between citizens and administration by investigating citizen’s distress regarding the public administration from a professional and neutral perspective, including corruption, civic appeals, illegal or unjust administrative act, and abuse of government official’s power, and call for a correction if necessary.
2) Differences
(1) The Scope of Relevant Duties
Whereas the extent of Ombudsman’s work is regarded as an overall administrative work than being strictly limited to specific areas, the work of citizen auditors is mostly focused on public administration’s business and its weaknesses regarding corruption.
(2) Qualifications
Just like Ombudsman, expertise in public administration is an essential qualification of a citizen auditor. However, integrity and anti-corruption awareness are also essential.
(Excerpt from Citizen Auditor Guideline, Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission)
5. The history of Citizen Auditor system and its Status Quo
1) History
- Established operation plan on implementing Integrity Ombudsman Initiative for public organizations (Dec 2009)
- Implemented the blueprint of Integrity Ombudsman Initiative (Jan 2010)
- Officially included in government’s Anti-Corruption Initiative Assessment (2010 ~ )
- Change of name to Citizen Auditor from Integrity Ombudsman (Mar 2013)
2) Status Quo
- A stable settlement of system (98.8% of System Adoption Rate)
- 243 organizations adopted the system out of 246 policy evolution target organizations (as of 2018)
- In the course of expanding the number of target organizations (included public, state-run universities, and hospitals in 2019)
6. The Role of a Citizen Auditor
- Assess, investigate and examine major projects and corruption-weak sectors
(e.g., Consignment of purchasing construction services or items, authorization, on-site inspection, personnel recruitment, etc.)
- Call for systematic improvement to improve transparency
Revolutionize administration through anti-corruption policy consultations
7. The Scope of Work and Authority of a Citizen Auditor
- Position and Department to Support: Independent position. May support the auditing department for a cohesive relationship with resources, administrative, and practical business department
- Authority: May be adjusted depending on the nature of the organization (Demand for information disclosure, request for corrective action, Suggest for systematic improvement)
- Scope of Work: Handle corruption-related petitions and check relevant regulations. Regularly examine major projects or contracts through on-site inspection, etc.
(e.g., Select target project → Collect data, and fact-check → Request for correction and audit → Suggest for systematic improvement)
8. The Duty of a Citizen Auditor
A citizen auditor must…
- Not abuse their authority
- Maintain their independence and political neutrality from any other organizations or authorities
- Not disclose or personally use any information that may be acquired due to the nature of their work
- Be responsible for their duties and consider all information regarding their activities as confidential
9. Expected Outcomes of Citizen Auditor System
- Complemented independence of internal auditing and maintained office paternalism
- Improvement of auditing administration custom and dissolved blind spots
- Definitive standards on corruption eradication which could form a public consensus
- Strengthened integrity, trustworthy auditing, heightened acceptance
- Rooting out corruption through improved system
10. Examples of Integrity Ombudsman (Citizen Auditor)
1) Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) ‘s Ombudsman
- The first governmental organ to initiate the Ombudsman system by legal force
- Defense Acquisition Program Act, Article 6 (Integrity Pledge System and Ombudsman System), Clause 4
“To enhance transparency and fairness in the execution of defense acquisition programs, the Minister of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration may operate an ombudsman system which can investigate matters of civil appeal raised in the course of execution of defense acquisition programs and make a request, etc. for rectification or inspection.”
2) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) ‘s Ombudsman
- Oct. 2018: Launched under the institutions by the Secretary of Defense
- Oct. 2019: a landmark case for MND’s history to recognize ‘internal whistleblower’ after the Ombudsman’s investigation took place; the whistleblower was later awarded ‘Transparent Society Award’ by Transparency International Korea
- Duties of the Ministry of National Defense’s Ombudsman include…
- Assess, investigate, and watch MND’s corruption-weak sections and its major projects (e.g., contracts)
- Participate in inspections in case of whistleblowing and advise for the sake of the victims
- Examine implementations of requests for corrections
- Advise, assess, and give out opinions on anti-corruption, transparency-related policies
- Educate employees on anti-corruption
- Call for investigations on corruption-related petitions and systematic improvement
- Monitor relevant petitions, reports, human resources, employment processes, etc.
- Other relevant items (e.g., aiding activities for spreading transparent culture at work)
- If necessary, has the right to investigate when a state (e.g., Anti‑Corruption and Civil Rights Commission) investigation or auditing is also taking place
3) Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (COMWEL) ‘s Citizen Auditor
- Launched in October 2012 as Integrity Ombudsman; Renamed to Citizen Auditor on 2018
- Was Introduced as an excellent case in Anti-corruption Initiative Assessment as the first example to conduct a Corruption Impact Assessment to COMWEL’s regulations
- Duties of COMWEL’s Citizen Auditor include…
- Express opinions on COMWEL’s projects and request systematic improvement if needed. Counsel to correct or request auditing for relevant items.
- Counsel to correct or request auditing on corruption-related matters
- Request improvement on regulations or counsel to correct if deemed necessary for the enhancement of anti-corruption, transparency-related regulation, and the overall administration
- Evaluate and conduct surveys on corrections or improvements on provisions done by Citizen Auditor themselves
- Attend meetings or training related to Citizen Auditor’s work
- Express opinions or request systematic improvement by attending Auditing Advisory Commission and Ethical Administration Committee, on the grounds of auditing provision and ethics provision
- Review, express opinions, call for systematic improvement, or counsel to correct all other audit-related items in which the auditing department requested the consultation of citizen auditor
Translated by: Jaerin Kim