An ad hoc inspection team of prosecutors on Saturday began its investigation into their disgraced colleague who has been under a police probe for allegedly taking tens of millions of won in bribes from a notorious swindler and a mid-sized conglomerate, which renewed tension between police and the prosecution.
The senior prosecutor, identified only by his surname Kim, has been under police investigation on suspicion of taking 200 million won (US$183,908) in 2008 from the side of Cho Hee-pal, the country's most wanted con artist.
At the time of accepting bribes, Kim worked at a Daegu branch of the prosecution, which was handling a large-scale financial scam involving Cho, police said. Kim currently works at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul.
Cho was accused of swindling thousands of investors out of some 3.5 trillion won in the country's largest pyramid scheme. He fled to China amid a widening probe into his scam, and reportedly died last year. As doubts surrounding his death still remain, however, police continue to pursue him.
Kim is also accused of receiving 600 million won from an official of Eugene Group through a bank account opened under a third-party name. The group suffered legal trouble regarding its takeover of Hi-mart Co., the country's No. 1 electronic appliance retailer, at the time of the suspicious transaction.
While Kim denied all the allegations and Eugene Group said the money was "a simple personal loan" for the prosecutor, the police say they have evidence to prove he is the real owner of the account.
The latest incident deals another blow to the prosecution as a whole, whose integrity has been seriously marred by a series of corruption scandals and politically biased investigations.
Shortly after the news about the police probe into the senior prosecutor and their plan to summon him for questioning on Friday, the highest prosecution office set up the inspection team for "an independent probe into the case."
"We will launch a full-fledged investigation into the incident immediately after finishing some necessary preparatory steps," Kim Soo-chang, who leads the team, said Saturday. He serves as a researcher at the legal research and training institute.
"We will clarify all suspicions raised in a prompt and stern manner," Kim said, while declining to comment on the ongoing controversy over "the dual probe" by police and the prosecution.
The two agencies have long been at odds over investigation rights. In January, a contentious ordinance on the investigative rights of the two law enforcement agencies went into effect, which empowers prosecutors to supervise the police officers' internal preliminary investigations.
It marks the third time that such an ad hoc team has been appointed to look into corruption scandals involving prosecutors, with the system being set up in June 2010. The first instance involved a prosecutor found to have taken an expensive sedan and cash for influence peddling in 2010, with the second one involving another resigned female prosecutor taking a luxury sedan and a designer handbag in return for her influence. (Yonhap News)
