Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant Sunday for a former close aide to President Lee Myung-bak on charges of taking bribes from a savings bank businessman in a lobbying scandal that implicates influential politicians including Lee’s elder brother and an opposition leader.
Kim Hee-jung, 44, a former secretary in charge of the president’s personal affairs, was questioned for nearly 15 hours from Friday to early Saturday.
He is suspected of receiving around 100 million won ($87,657) in kickbacks from the now-jailed Solomon Savings Bank’s Chairman Lim Suk, who is accused of a massive lobbying campaign to prevent the ailing bank from being shut down.
The prosecutors also requested an arrest warrant for Kim Se-wook, a former administrative official at Cheong Wa Dae, for receiving two 1-kilogram gold bars worth 120 million won from Kim Chang-gyeong, chairman of Mirae Savings Bank who was also arrested.
Former secretary Kim had worked for Lee since 1997 when the president was a lawmaker. He resigned from the secretary post earlier this week after local media raised the allegations against him. Kim has maintained his innocence, but said he wanted to practice “moral responsibility.”
“I sincerely responded to the questioning,” Kim said on Saturday after the marathon interrogation.
He refused to comment on whether he admitted to the bribery allegations.
Prosecutors said they secured evidence of his misdeed. They are looking into whether the money was a reward for using his influence to rescue the savings bank.
Sources said Kim denied most of the allegations during the interrogation.
He expressed regret that the scandal is negatively affecting the president.
“I caused irrevocable, huge trouble to the president. I will spend the rest of my life offering an apology,” he said.
(From news reports)
