Published : Jan. 25, 2018 - 10:11
A ruling party lawmaker said Thursday he has submitted a bill requiring high-level government officials and lawmakers to disclose their cryptocurrency holdings when they report their assets every year under an anti-corruption law.
The revision to the Public Service Ethics Act, submitted by Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party, calls for officials subject to annual wealth disclosure to report their virtual currency holdings worth 10 million won ($9,388) or more.
Under the current act, assets subject to disclosure include 10 million won or more worth of cash, bank deposits, insurance policy, stock and other securities, as well as 5 million won or more worth of gold and other jewelry. Virtual currency is not among them.
Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party (Yonhap)
"We need to include virtual currency in the list of assets subject to wealth disclosure at a time when speculative trading of virtual currency is overheating and crimes using virtual currency are on a steady rise," Noh said.
The legislation came as the government is trying to come up with stronger codes of conduct for public servants after a financial watchdog official was found to have profited from information on cryptocurrency regulations.
According to a government inspection, the Financial Supervisory Service worker earned about 7 million won ($6,550) in profit from selling about half of his virtual currency holdings last month, just two days before the government announced a package of measures aimed at curbing cryptocurrency speculation.
The profit represented more than 50 percent of his investment, and the finding sparked outrage among investors and others that the official, who is supposed to act as a watchdog, took advantage of unannounced information affecting the market. (Yonhap)