A former vice culture minister, during an overnight questioning, denied allegations that he received a huge amount of money from a local businessman in return for influence peddling, prosecution sources said Monday.
Shin Jae-min, the ex-vice minister and close presidential confidant, returned home early Monday after undergoing 17 hours of intensive questioning over allegations that he took more than 1 billion won ($851,788) in cash and gift certificates from SLS Group Chairman Lee Kuk-chul over the past decade.
During the questioning, Shin admitted to occasionally taking gift certificates from Lee but denied the businessman‘s widely-published claim that he was lavishly bribed constantly over the long period of time, the sources said.
The former official also reiterated his firm stance that he has never peddled influence for Lee in return for the financial gain, they noted.
Prosecutors launched an investigation into the latest corruption scandal after the chairman disclosed to the media last month that he constantly gave cash and gift certificates to Shin from when he was a journalist in the local press in 2002 until recently. Shin was also a secretary of state affairs for then President-elect Lee Myung-bak in 2007.
Prosecutors have grilled Shin over allegations that the businessman asked him to use his influence to help avoid a state-led debt rescheduling for the conglomerate in return for the payments.
Amid differing accounts from the two, prosecutors plan to re-summon the chairman on Tuesday for a third session of interrogation.
As Shin left the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office around 2:40 a.m. following the 17-hour questioning, he told reporters, “I am very exhausted. (We will talk about it) Next time.”
Before appearing before prosecutors on Sunday, Shin said in a Facebook post that “It is very unjust as well as very shameful for me ... If what I did is unlawful, I would accept punishment,” without elaborating. (Yonhap News)
