Prosecutors on Sunday launched an official investigation into a high-profile corruption scandal involving political heavyweights and close aides to President Park Geun-hye, vowing to conduct a thorough investigation.
In a meeting of senior prosecutors presided over by Prosecutor General Kim Jin-tae, the prosecution decided to form a special team to investigate the nation-rocking scandal sparked by a so-called bribery list left behind by a late businessman, according to the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office.
The task force will be comprised of about 10 prosecutors and investigators, an SPPO official said, adding the decision reflects the prosecution’s firm will to get to the bottom of the snowballing scandal.
The top prosecutor reportedly told the meeting that the special team look into the case “without any hesitation and according to principles.”
Sung Wan-jong, a former head of a mid-size construction company, hung himself from a tree on a mountain in northern Seoul last week, leaving behind a memo containing the names of eight political bigwigs who are all close confidants of President Park, along with numbers indicating that money was delivered to them.
The politicians in question include Park’s two former chiefs of staff — Huh Tae-yeol and Kim Ki-choon — and her current chief of staff, Lee Byung-kee. Also on the list are Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo and Hong Moon-jong, a ruling party lawmaker who had served as the president’s campaign manager in 2012.
All eight people listed on the memo have dismissed the allegations.
Sung claimed that he gave some 200 million won ($182,000) in cash to Hong, believing that the money would be used for Park’s election campaign, according to local daily Kyunghyang Shinmun’s interview with the businessman that was made right before the suicide.
The scandal is widely expected to deal a harsh blow to Park, who managed to muddle through a leadership crisis following the recent controversial leak of sensitive presidential documents, analysts say.
Sung, also a former lawmaker, was the prime target of an ongoing investigation into the country’s overseas resources development projects pushed by former President Lee Myung-bak.
He is suspected of taking 80 billion won in government loans by exaggerating the amount of profit his company was expected to make on an investment in an oil exploration project in Russia. He allegedly used part of the funds to create slush funds.
Prosecutors are facing a dilemma as Sung’s death may deal a setback to their probe into the overseas energy projects.
The prime minister, whose name is also on the bribery list, declared an “all-out war” on corruption in late March following a recent series of graft cases involving government officials as well as businessmen.
Earlier in the day, Kim Moo-sung, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, called for a thorough and prompt probe into the corruption scandal. (Yonhap)
