The government is discussing a plan to expand the investigative authority of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) people's livelihood special judicial police (special police), which is being pushed to respond to illegal private financing, to the Act on the Fair Collection of Claims (debt collection law). There is a consensus on granting the FSS people's livelihood special police the authority to initiate investigations based on intelligence (the power to open an investigation upon determining there is suspicion of a crime).
According to the financial authorities on the 15th, the FSS people's livelihood special police task force (TF) has finished discussions with the Financial Services Commission on the scope of investigative authority and is consulting with the Ministry of Justice and The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
The investigative scope of local government special police, including the Gyeonggi Province Fairness Special Judicial Police Corps referenced by the TF, is limited to the Lending Business Act. However, if the FSS people's livelihood special police are launched and conduct searches and seizures, illegal collection practices are likely to surface as well, and critics say that if investigative authority is confined to the Lending Business Act, it will be difficult to address illegal collection directly.
The expansion of the investigative scope is also expected to affect staffing levels. The Gyeonggi Province fairness special police, which handle only the Lending Business Act, operate with a staff of six, and if the FSS people's livelihood special police also handle the debt collection law, the organization could be larger than that. However, the Ministry of Justice is reportedly taking a cautious stance, citing concerns that investigative powers could expand excessively and issues such as investigative capacity.
If consultations with the Ministry of Justice conclude well, the TF expects to complete an amendment to the Act on Persons Who Perform the Duties of Judicial Police Officers and the Scope of Their Duties (Judicial Police Duties Act) and implement it next year. To that end, it plans to begin training to strengthen the special police's expertise by next month at the latest.
Earlier, starting in on the last month, the TF received operational know-how from the Gyeonggi Province Fairness Special Judicial Police Corps and upgraded the support system for victims of illegal private financing. An official at the financial authorities said, "If discussions on whether to apply the debt collection law conclude well, there should be no major obstacles to launch."