Prosecutors on Tuesday used a court-issued warrant to arrest the former head of an Internet radio station for allegedly taking money in return for promises to help three lawmaker aspirants win the main opposition party's nomination in the April parliamentary elections.
Prosecutors also arrested the three lawmaker aspirants for their role in the money-for-nomination scandal.
Yang Kyeong-suk, the former head of the Internet radio station Radio 21, is suspected of receiving a total of 3 billion won ($2.64 million) from the three lawmaker hopefuls in return for promising to help them win the Democratic United Party (DUP)'s nominations through ties to the party's floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won. Yang previously worked as an aide to a former chief of the party.
Two of the three hopefuls are also suspected of having given 5 million won in political funds to Park ahead of the parliamentary polls, prosecutors said.
Park acknowledged having met all four suspects in the past, but flatly denied allegations he received any money in return for promising nominations.
"If they mentioned my name in their discussions about getting nominations, this was exclusively among them, and has nothing to do with me," he told Yonhap News Agency at the National Assembly.
He added he received 5 million won each in donations from two of the suspects, identified by their surnames Lee and Jeong, and donations from Yang in February, but handled them in line with necessary legal procedures.
The Central Investigation Unit of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, which handles large bribery cases, twice questioned Yang, 51, and the three others last weekend after a tip-off that the former lawmaker hopefuls were complaining about getting neither a nomination nor profits.
Yang has denied the allegations, saying the money provided by the three was for non-election related investment purposes, prosecutors said.
The revelation comes only weeks after prosecutors launched a probe into a scandal involving two members of the ruling Saenuri Party, including Rep. Hyun Young-hee. The lawmaker is suspected of securing a proportional representative seat in the April elections after paying 300 million won to Hyun Ki-hwan, then a member of a party committee responsible for nominating candidates.
The ruling party expelled both members in an apparent bid to minimize the scandal's impact ahead of December's presidential election. (Yonhap)