Probe: S. Korea’s Park got millions in bribes

TOKYO — South Korea’s embattled president colluded with a confidante to extract $37 million from Samsung in return for granting favorable treatment to the corporate behemoth, special prosecutors concluded Monday after a 75-day investigation into the corruption scandal that has been roiling the country.

The 101-page report recommends a further five charges against Park Geunhye, taking the total to 13 and paving the way for her to be indicted if she is ejected from office. The Constitutional Court is set to announce whether it will uphold a parliamentary motion to impeach Park, who has been suspended from duties for three months.

“The core purpose of this investigation was to shed light on the chronic collusion between private interests and the government, and to expose cases of abuse of state power for personal gain,” Park Youngsoo, head of the special prosecution team, said Monday.

The special prosecutors indicted 30 people in connection with the corruption and influence-peddling scandal. The affair has also brought to light tales of million-dollar horses given as bribes and Botox injections administered in the presidential Blue House.

The special prosecutors were unable to complete their investigation because of Park’s refusal to appear and because the prime minister who is doing her job refused to extend the time allowed for the inquiry.

“The investigation ended, accomplishing just half of what had to be done due to the limited period and uncooperative attitude of those subject to the investigation,” the head of the special prosecution team said.

The president, who issued a 52-page rebuttal through her lawyer Monday, refused to be questioned by the special prosecutors over her role in the case or to appear before the Constitutional Court.

Although a president can be questioned while in office, the prosecution could not compel her to appear. Nor can Park be indicted while she still holds the presidency. The 13 charges that prosecutors would like to press against her, once she becomes a regular citizen again, include abuse of power and receiving bribes.

She can be indicted if impeached — or once her term expires in February next year, if she is exonerated in the impeachment case.

The Constitutional Court, which set itself a deadline of March 13 to decide whether to uphold the National Assembly’s motion to impeach Park, will announce Tuesday the date it will deliver its verdict. South Korean media have reported that it will most likely be Friday.

Park, 65, is the daughter of former military strongman Park Chung-hee, who served as president from 1963 to 1979 and oversaw South Korea’s transformation into an economic powerhouse by supporting conglomerates such as Samsung and Hyundai. Park is South Korea’s first woman president and, if she is impeached, would become the first to be forced out of office.

In that event, a new presidential election would be held within 60 days. If she is exonerated, it would be held as scheduled in December.

Even without Park’s cooperation, the special prosecutors still found that the president colluded with her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to take a total of $37 million in bribes from Samsung in return for approving a merger that would help Lee Jae-yong, the third-generation head of South Korea’s largest conglomerate, maintain the family’s control.

The presidential Blue House instructed the head of the National Pension Service, a major Samsung shareholder, to vote for the merger, even though the fund lost $120 million in the deal, the report said.

The president also installed Choi’s associates in influential positions, including ambassador to Myanmar, where the confidante could make money, the report found.

It concluded that Park and Choi had 573 phone calls in a six-month period — between April and October 2016, when the scandal broke — on cellphones registered under other people’s names.

The report also implicated Park in the blacklisting of almost 9,500 leftleaning artists considered critical of her administration.

But Park, through her lawyer, again strongly denied any wrongdoing.

YONHAP Park Geun-hye and a friend extracted $37 million from Samsung, prosecutors say.