Arrest warrant sought for aide to Lee Myung-bak

The prosecution sought an arrest warrant late Monday for Park Bum-hoon, former senior presidential secretary for education and culture, in connection with wide-ranging corruption allegations including bribery and embezzlement.

The prosecutors’ office said Park, who served in the Lee Myung-bak administration from 2011-2013, faced six charges including abuse of authority.

The move came three days after the 66-year-old was grilled over his alleged influence-peddling for 19 hours from Thursday morning at Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office.

Park was accused of accepting kickbacks from Doosan Group, which owns Chung-Ang University, in return for pressuring the Education Ministry to grant privileges to the school.

He allegedly exerted undue influence on the ministry to allow the university to merge its separate campuses and acquire the Red Cross College of Nursing in 2011. The merger is reported to have saved the school tens of billions of won.

Park served as president of Chung-Ang University from 2005 until he joined Lee’s administration in 2011.

The former presidential secretary reportedly denied all charges during the investigation.

Prosecutors also accused Park of receiving about 1.8 billion won ($1.6 million) between 2008 and 2012 from Doosan Group’s affiliates through Mootsori Foundation, where Park is a chief director, in return for giving favors to the company-owned university.

Park allegedly transferred ownership of a building constructed with public funds to Mootsori in 2013 after he ended his term at Cheong Wa Dae, which prosecutors viewed as embezzlement.

The investigation also found that Park violated the Private School Act by accepting financial donations for Chung-Ang University’s foundation from Woori Bank through an inappropriate bank account.

Woori Bank allegedly offered the money as a token of gratitude after Chung-Ang University extended its contract with the bank in 2008 while Park was president of the university.

Other accusations include that his wife illegally secured leases at a shopping mall operated by a unit of Doosan Group in 2011 and that Chung-Ang University altered its recruiting requirements to hire his daughter as a music professor last year. Park himself has served as an outside director at Doosan Engine since March 2014, receiving an annual income of 58 million won.

A court will hold a hearing early next week to review the warrant application.

Prosecutors plan to summon Park Yong-sung, a former chairman of Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction and of Chung-Ang University foundation, for further investigation.

By Ock Hyun-ju  (laeticia.ock@heraldorp.com)