South Korean President Park Geun-hye has hired a lawyer ahead of questioning by prosecutors over a snowballing political scandal that has engulfed her administration, her spokesman said yesterday.
Park, who would be the first sitting South Korean president to be interrogated in a criminal case, has seen her approval ratings plunge, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to Seoul’s streets on Saturday to demand that she resign.
The scandal centers on Park’s shadowy confidant, Choi Soon-sil, who is accused of using her ties with the president to coerce local firms to donate millions of dollars to nonprofit foundations that Choi then used for personal gain.
Seoul prosecutors on Sunday announced a plan to formally question Park this week over allegations she helped Choi extract money from the firms and allowed presidential aides to leak documents to Choi.
Park’s newly retained lawyer, Yoo Young-ha, is to discuss with Seoul prosecutors exactly when, where and how Park would be questioned, Park’s spokesman told reporters.
The probe widened again yesterday, when prosecutors raided the office of Samsung’s advertising unit, Cheil Worldwide, as part of an investigation into Choi’s relatives, the Yonhap News Agency said.
Samsung made the largest donation of about 20 billion won (US$17.1 million at the current exchange rate) to Choi’s foundations and is accused of separately offering 2.8 million euros (US$3 million at the current exchange rate) to Choi to bankroll her daughter’s equestrian training in Germany.
Prosecutors found evidence that Cheil had made questionable donations to a nonprofit sports foundation controlled by Choi’s niece, Jang Si-ho, Yonhap said.
“The raid is in connection with Cheil’s donation to [Jang’s] foundation,” Yonhap quoted a Seoul prosecutor as saying.
Jang, described by local media as a key Choi aide, is accused of using the foundation and a sports management firm she controlled to funnel state funds and to extract donations from local firms.
Yesterday’s raid comes after prosecutors questioned Samsung group scion Lee Jae-yong and other heads of the powerful conglomerates including Hyundai over the scandal.
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