At the request of Cheong Wa Dae, the BAI pushed forward to March of last year an audit of rice subsidies that was scheduled to begin in September and reported the results to the presidential office in June, a month before they were to be finalized. Later, the BAI made the unusual decision to keep the results of the probe under wraps and destroyed a list of people suspected of fraudulently taking farming subsidies. Most of the officials who resigned were involved in that incident. The BAI, whose task has been to audit other government agencies, now faces its first-ever questioning by the National Assembly between Nov. 10 to Dec. 5. But that should not be the end of it.

Lawmakers must reveal which officials in the presidential office played what roles in the decision not to reveal the results of the probe, which discovered that 45,000 civil servants and employees of state-run companies had received rice subsidies despite never wielding a plow in their life. Another question is whether the decision to push forward the audit was made with the presidential election schedule in mind.

The BAI chief must make a bold decision based on the results of the National Assembly hearing and an internal probe presently under way. Last Wednesday, Kim vowed to enhance the independence of the BAI and reform the way it is run. He must put his words into practice immediately, starting with the process of recommending new auditor candidates for presidential approval. The Roh Moo-hyun administration appointed two presidential secretaries to serve as secretary-generals at the BAI and that has ended up undermining its objectivity. If the BAI has a reputation for being the henchman of the administration, what government agency will subject itself to audits?

The BAI should consider expanding its role to diagnosing and assessing the major policies of the government. But to do that, it must be reborn as a highly professional, independent organization.