▲ 여수경찰서 전경

전남 여수경찰서 현직 경찰간부가 인사 청탁을 대가로 부하 직원에게 금품을 수수한 의혹이 불거지면서 파문이 일파만파 커지고 있다.

특히 직원 A씨가 경찰서 내 '노조' 격인 직장협의회장과 나눈 대화 과정에서 직속상관 B씨에게 '근무평정' 최고점수를 대가로 금품을 건넨 정황이 담긴 육성 녹취파일이 존재하는 것으로 취재결과 확인됐다.

경찰의 인사비리를 둘러싸고 상급자에 대한 금품수수 의혹이 녹취록을 통해 구체화되면서 수사로 이어질 가능성이 높다는 관측이 흘러나온다.

12일 여수경찰과 공익제보자에 등에 따르면 경찰의 근무평정 기간이던 지난해 11월경, A씨는 직속상관인 B씨에게 금품을 건넨 것으로 안다고 내부인사는 언론에 폭로했다.

그러면서 경찰 내에서도 일부 직원들은 A씨가 근평 결정권자에게 자신이 경감으로 승진하는데 유리한 조건이 될 수 있도록 돈과 상품권을 상납한 사실을 녹취파일 등을 통해 알고 있다고 밝혔다.

실제 브레이크뉴스가 단독 입수한 18분 분량의 녹취파일에는 경찰의 근무평정 기준인 <수·우·양·가> 중에, A씨는 '우-하' 성적을 부여받아 0.6점이 떨어졌다는 불만 섞인 목소리가 녹취록에 고스란히 담겨있다.

무엇보다 녹취록에는 직속상관에게 금품을 상납한 것으로 특정된 A씨가, '금품사실을 까발리면 자신도 죽을 수 있기 때문에' 그냥 덮고 가는 게 좋겠다는 대화 내용이 적나라하게 담겨있어 충격을 주고 있다.

나아가 A씨는 직속상관인 B씨에게 금품을 준 사실을 자신과 같은 부서에 근무하는 친인척 팀장(경감) D씨에게 고충을 토로하면서 자백했다는 대화 내용도 녹취록에 담겨져 있는 것으로 나타났다.

앞서 여수경찰은 작년 11월께 전체직원 540여명에 대한 근무평정을 마치고, 뒤이어 12월말 근평 결과를 직원들에게 개별 열람할 수 있도록 공지한 것으로 전해졌다.

이와관련 여수경찰의 한 인사는 "내부 분위기는 눈치 보며 쉬쉬하고 있지만 언제 터질지 모르는 시한폭탄과 같은 상황이 지속되고 있다"면서 "수사가 착수되면 비위사실을 쉽게 캐낼 수 있을 것"이라고 밝혔다.

또 다른 경찰 중견 인사는 "그동안 경찰 내부에서 승진인사 또는 근무평정을 대가로 금품이 오고가는 비위행위가 전혀 없었다고 말하긴 어렵다"며 "반드시 일벌백계해 경종을 울릴 필요가 있다"고 강조했다.

그런가하면 하위직 한 인사는 "일부 직원이 승진에 눈이 멀어 상급자에게 금품을 상납했다는 소문은 오래전부터 공공연한 비밀로 여겨져 왔다"면서 "청렴문화가 정착되는 와중에 불미스러운 일이 터져 안타깝다"고 말했다.

녹취록에 등장하는 여수경찰서 직장협의회 K회장은 브레이크뉴스와 대면 인터뷰에서 "인사청탁과 관련해 상급자에게 금품을 제공했다는 내용은 잘 알지 못한다"며 "녹취파일 존재여부도 아는바 없다"고 밝혔다.

금품상납 의혹이 짙은 A씨는 브레이크뉴스와 전화인터뷰를 갖고 "자신은 근무평정에서 근속연수가 많아 최고등급인 '수'를 획득했다"면서 "직속상관에게 금품을 상납하지 않았다"고 반박했다.

이에 대해 경찰간부 B씨는 브레이크뉴스와 인터뷰에서 "지난해 말 근무평정 기간에 A씨에게 '수'를 줬다"며 "일각에서 제기하는 금품수수 설은 전혀 사실무근"이라고 결백을 주장했다.

이보다 앞서 광주지검은 경찰의 인사청탁과 관련해 작년 2월경 광주·전남지역 현직 치안감과 전·현직 경찰관 10명을 기소해 재판에 넘겼고 현직 경찰관 6명 중 3명을 구속 기소해 인사비리가 만천하에 드러났다.

검찰은 당시 뇌물을 건넨 일부 경찰관은 기존 승진 순위가 뒤바뀌어 승진한 사실을 확인하는 등 경찰 내부에서 매관매직이 횡행했다고 밝혔다.

여수경찰서 청문감사실장은 브레이크뉴스와 인터뷰를 갖고 "녹취록에 등장하는 직원으로부터 녹취파일을 제공받아 18분 분량 전체를 들어보니, 뒷목을 잡을 만큼 대화내용이 충격적이었다"고 밝혔다.

다만 청문감사실장은 "직원 인사청탁과 관련해 그동안 실체가 명확하지 않아 자체 진상조사에 나서지 않았다"며 "그런데 녹취록을 통해 비위사실 정황이 구체화된 만큼 직무고발과 수사의뢰 등 법적절차를 즉각 진행하겠다"고 말했다.

한편 공무원에 대한 인사관리 방식의 하나인 경찰 '근무평정'은, 공직 내 근무 실적이나 직무수행 능력, 태도, 청렴도 등을 종합적으로 평가해 승진 및 영전에 이를 기록하고 활용하는 제도이다.

[아래는 구글로 번역한 영문기사 전문입니다. 영문번역에 오류가 있을 수 있음을 전제로 합니다. Below is the full English article translated by Google. It is assumed that there may be errors in the English translation.]

The controversy is growing as suspicions are being raised that a current police officer at the Yeosu Police Station in South Jeolla Province received money from a subordinate in exchange for a personnel request.

In particular, it was confirmed through investigation that there is a recorded voice file containing the circumstances in which employee A gave money to his direct supervisor B in exchange for the highest score on his ‘performance evaluation’ during a conversation with the head of the workplace council, which is a ‘union’ within the police station.

As suspicions of receiving money from superiors surrounding personnel corruption in the police are becoming more concrete through the recorded voice record, there is speculation that this will likely lead to an investigation.

According to the Yeosu Police and a public interest whistleblower on the 12th, an internal source revealed to the media that A gave money to his direct supervisor B around November of last year during the police performance evaluation period.

Meanwhile, some police officers revealed that they knew through recorded files that Mr. A had bribed money and gift certificates to the person in charge of performance evaluations in order to gain favorable conditions for his promotion to superintendent.

In fact, the 18-minute recorded file exclusively obtained by Break News contains Mr. A’s voice mixed with complaints that he was given a grade of “good-bad” out of the police performance evaluation criteria of “good-good-good-bad”, which dropped his performance by 0.6 points.

Above all, the recorded file shocks people by clearly showing Mr. A, who was identified as having bribed his immediate superior, saying that it would be better to just cover it up because “if they reveal the bribe, he could die too.”

Furthermore, it was revealed that Mr. A confessed to his relative, Team Leader (Superintendent D), who works in the same department, about giving bribes to his immediate superior, Mr. B, by complaining about it.

It was reported that the Yeosu Police Department completed the performance evaluation of all 540 employees around November of last year and then notified the employees of the performance evaluation results at the end of December so that they could individually review them.

In relation to this, a Yeosu Police Department official stated, “The internal atmosphere is quiet and we are keeping an eye on things, but if the situation continues to be like a time bomb that could explode at any moment, if an investigation is launched, it will be easy to uncover the facts of the irregularities.” Another senior police officer emphasized, “It is difficult to say that there has never been any irregularities in the police force in exchange for promotions or performance evaluations,” and stressed that we must sound the alarm by punishing one person for another.

On the other hand, a lower-ranking officer said that rumors that some employees gave bribes to their superiors because they were blinded by promotions have long been considered an open secret, and that it is unfortunate that such an unpleasant incident has occurred while a culture of integrity is being established.

In a face-to-face interview with Break News, K, the chairman of the Yeosu Police Station Workplace Council, said that he was not aware of any bribes given to superiors in connection with personnel requests, and that he was not aware of the existence of the recording file.

In a telephone interview with Break News, Person A, who is suspected of bribery, denied bribery, saying that he had received the highest grade, “good,” due to his long service years in the performance evaluation and that he had not bribed his direct supervisor.

In response, Police Officer B, a senior officer, said in an interview with Break News that during the performance evaluation period at the end of last year, He claimed his innocence, saying that the rumors of bribery raised by some, saying that he gave Mr. A “water”, were completely groundless.

Before this, the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office indicted and brought to trial 10 current and former police officers and superintendents of police in the Gwangju and Jeonnam areas in February of last year in relation to the police’s personnel request, and arrested and indicted 3 out of 6 current police officers, exposing the personnel corruption to the world.

The prosecution confirmed that some police officers who gave bribes at the time were promoted after their previous promotion order was reversed, and that bribery was rampant within the police.

The head of the Yeosu Police Station’s Audit and Inspection Office said in an interview with Break News, “After receiving a recording file from the employee who appears in the recording and listening to the entire 18 minutes, the content of the conversation was shocking enough to grab the back of your neck.

However, the head of the Office of the Inspector General said, “We did not conduct an internal investigation because the facts regarding the employee’s request for personnel favors were not clear at the time, but since the circumstances of the irregularities have become more specific through the transcript, we will immediately proceed with legal procedures such as filing a job report and requesting an investigation.”

Meanwhile, the police’s ‘performance evaluation,’ a personnel management method, is a system that comprehensively evaluates public service performance, job performance ability, attitude, integrity, etc., and records and utilizes this for promotions and honors.

원본 기사 보기:브레이크뉴스전남동부