An elder brother of late President Roh Moo-hyun was summoned to the prosecution Wednesday over allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for securing a presidential pardon for a businessman.
Roh Geon-pyeong is under suspicion of helping late business tycoon Sung Wan-jong win a special presidential pardon at the end of his brother’s term in 2007.
“Roh Geon-pyeong began undergoing questioning. He is being interrogated in the presence of a lawyer,” said a prosecutor.
The summons came as part of the prosecution’s investigation into a suspected “bribery list” left behind by Sung, the late chairman of construction firm Keangnam Enterprises Inc., who committed suicide in April.
Prosecutors said they have obtained testimony from a former Keangnam Enterprises executive surnamed Kim that he had asked the elder Roh to help swing Sung’s pardon.
Previous administrations have granted special pardons to imprisoned business executives, politicians and other offenders at the end of a president’s term to foster national harmony.
The elder Roh, who was previously mired in a number of graft scandals and served a prison term on corruption charges in 2008, is suspected of receiving kickbacks from the late Sung.
The memo retrieved from Sung’s pocket after he was found dead showed sums of money written next to the names of a number of high-profile politicians, suggesting that they were bribed. The eight politicians in the memo include President Park’s former and current chiefs of staff.
The prosecution has said it will soon indict former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo and Hong Joon-pyo, governor of South Gyeongsang Province, on charges of violating the law governing illegal political funds.
Sung suggested in the memo that he had given the illegal political funds to six other people, including Hong Moon-jong, a ruling party lawmaker who had been in a key post in the Park camp, as well as Yoo Jeong-bok and Seo Byung-soo, the current mayors of Incheon and Busan.
As part of the investigation, prosecutors said they will bring in Rep. Kim Han-gil of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy and Rep. Rhee In-je of the ruling Saenuri Party sometime soon.
Kim allegedly took tens of millions of won from Sung while running for the opposition party’s top position in May 2013.
Rhee is accused of having received bribes from Sung just before the 2012 general elections.
Rhee was part of the now-dissolved minor conservative Advancement and Unification Party when Sung served as the party’s floor leader.
Both Kim and Rhee have denied the allegations. (Yonhap)
