Real Estate: Economy: News: Hankyoreh

The seedlings are planted in a field in Gwarim-dong, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, on the afternoon of the 3rd, when allegations of speculation were raised by LH employees. Yunhap news

As the wave of allegations of speculation by former and current employees of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) spreads in the new city of Gwangmyeong and Siheung, this case concerns the speculative behavior of public officials and employees of institutions. Public authorities who are likely to be exposed to development information under current law, in fact, it is pointed out that this is the result of negligence. Like the Capital Market Law, which strictly penalizes insider speculation using undisclosed material information, voices are high that the real estate market needs an intensive review of the law to prevent insider speculation. . According to the Meeting of Lawyers for the Democratic Society and Solidarity Participation for the Democratic Society on the 3rd, the anti-corruption laws and the Special Public Housing Law are the laws that prohibit and sanction speculative behavior by public officials and executives and employees of public institutions, such as the Ministry of Lands, Infrastructure and Transport and LH. Article 7 of the Anti-Corruption Law prohibits the use of ‘secrets learned during commercial processing’ to obtain property gains, and in this case, it is subject to imprisonment for not more than 7 years or a fine of not more than 70 million won. . The guilty plea under this provision is dictated by “business relevance”, and acquiring land from a candidate site learned while designing a new city is a representative offense. The problem is that, like the LH employees, there is no direct relationship to the task of designating the new city. According to the Participation Solidarity, many of the 10 LH employees who acquired land are in charge of compensation in the metropolitan area. The Ministry of Lands, Infrastructure and Transport and LH said that 13 employees had acquired 12 parcels through a self-investigation that day. “It was confirmed that they are not working in the department related to the new candidate site and Gwangmyeong Siheung business headquarters.” In fact, it means that it was determined that there was no primary work-related relationship. The Special Law on Public Housing also prohibits the leakage of secrets related to the designation of public housing districts and their use for other purposes in Article 9, stipulated as “ security management and measures to prevent real estate speculation ”, but for information use only. learned during “ commercial processing ” for less than 5 years. Imprisonment or a fine of 50 million won or less. The LH Code of Conduct for Executives and Employees (Article 26, Restricting Transactions with Work-Related Information) also restricts land transactions that use work-related information. Even if business relevance is recognized, it can be said that the new cities of Gwangmyeong and Siheung are not “business secrets” recognized by the Anti-Corruption Law or the Special Public Housing Law. The new cities of Gwangmyeong and Siheung were mentioned in the media as promising candidates in the first and second presentations related to the third new city, but were ultimately discarded. Even before it was announced as the sixth third new city on the 24th of last month, many outlets mentioned it as “priority 0”. Kim Tae-geun, Chairman of the Minsheng Solidarity Participation Economy Committee (lawyer), said: “If you claim that the new cities of Gwangmyeong and Siheung are not business secrets, it will be difficult to punish under current law if you say, ‘I only did offset work, but never did new city designation work.’ In fact, there is no way to impose penalties if you do not only do business related to the designation of a new city, even if you take advantage of the experience gained by investing in a district where development is expected and working on a housing site. development-related institution for development benefits. For this reason, it is pointed out that the regulation on real estate speculation by public officials or employees of public institutions who have access to important development information, such as the development of residential land, is too lenient compared to the Capital Market Law. , which penalizes the use of undisclosed important information by insiders. In fact, the scope of employees recognized as insiders under the Capital Markets Act encompasses the majority of employees, including “ employees engaged in business related to finance, accounting, planning, and research and development of the corporation. relevant ” as well as important undisclosed information. related work. It is noted as a problem that there is no provision for the confiscation of speculative acts in the current law. While the Capital Markets Law penalizes up to five times the gains made from violations as a fine, neither the Anti-Corruption Law nor the Special Public Housing Law stipulate the confiscation of the proceeds of real estate speculation using housing development information. Even if you are disciplined or fired, you can still make speculative profits. President Kim Tae-geun said: “According to the Capital Market Law, it is necessary to amend the relevant law to broadly recognize the scope of insiders and establish confiscation sentences.” Choi Eun-young, director of the Korea Urban Research Institute, said: “LH and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation are destined to participate in various development-related tasks. As it does not fit, a Device is needed to prevent the speculation by public officials and employees of public institutions this time. ”Meanwhile, the Ministry of Lands, Infrastructure and Transportation announced that it will review the measures to prohibit land transactions for purposes other than residence in principle, and will inform in advance if it is inevitable, as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and LH related to the development of new housing sites. By Jin Myung-sun, staff reporter