South Korean prosecutors seek former president’s arrest
TOKYO: South Korean prosecutors asked the courts yesterday to issue a warrant for the arrest of Park Geun-hye, the former president who was impeached earlier this month in connection with a corruption and influence-peddling scandal.
This comes after prosecutors grilled Park for 14 hours last week, the first time she agreed to answer questions about her role in the scandal.
“A lot of evidence has been collected so far, but as the suspect denies most of the criminal allegations against her, there is a possibility of her destroying evidence,” the prosecution said.
The request will now be forwarded to a judge, who will decide whether the former president can be detained for further questioning.
Park, 65, lost her immunity from prosecution when South Korea’s Constitutional Court dismissed her from office on March 10 after concluding that she had “continuously” violated the law. Prosecutors have identified 13 charges that could be levelled against her, including bribery, abuse of power and leaking confidential information.
However, there already has been plenty of time for the destruction of evidence, analysts said.
Park was suspended from office in early December when the National Assembly passed a motion to impeach her and forwarded the matter to the Constitutional Court.
She remained in the Blue House throughout the three months that the court was deliberating, and then stayed on for 60 hours even after she was impeached before returning to her private home in southern Seoul.
Park also refused prosecutors access to her office during their investigation and declined to talk to them or to appear before the court deciding her fate. She has denied the allegations against her.
The scandal centres on Park’s relationship with Choi Soon-sil, her lifelong friend and confidante.
Park was a notoriously reclusive president – some of her own ministers said they’d never met her in person – but she secretly was relying on Choi, who had no policy or political experience and no security clearance.
Choi is accused of coercing a total of $70 million (R870m) from big business on the promise that they would get favourable treatment from her government. Prosecutors have said that Park colluded in the scheme.
Choi is now on trial, as is Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung, who is alleged to have given or promised to give Choi about $37m.
Choi is said to have offered to ensure that the merger of two Samsung units went through. Choi and Lee have denied any wrongdoing.
Washington Post