Disgraced Assembly speaker set to be indicted without detention

Prosecutors have virtually decided to file official bribery charges against National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae following their marathon interrogation on him the previous day, prosecution sources said Monday.

"From today we enter into the stage to finalize (the investigation). Currently, we are reviewing whether we have the right picture (over the bribery scandal)," a prosecution official said.

With prosecutors expected to announce their probe results this week, sources said prosecutors are believed to charge Park with violating the Political Party Law before indicting him without detention.

The purported decision came after Park was grilled in the marathon interrogation at his official residence till early Monday morning over his suspected bribery of fellow lawmakers before winning the ruling party's top position in 2008.

Three prosecutors visited Park's official residence in Hannam-dong in central Seoul early Sunday for the questioning, which lasted nearly 16 hours, according to prosecutors.

The rare questioning of a parliamentary speaker took place at his residence rather than at the prosecutors' office as part of prosecutors' gesture of showing respect to the current parliamentary speaker.

After undergoing the questioning, Park reviewed and signed prosecutors' interrogation report at around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, prosecutors said.

Park is facing suspicion that he directed his aides to bribe fellow lawmakers and other party members to muster votes before being elected as the chairman of the then Grand National Party, now renamed the Saenuri Party.

During the latest questioning, however, Park insistently denied the vote-buying allegations, according to prosecution sources. Park said he became aware of the bribe distribution only after the allegations were raised by ruling-party lawmaker Koh Seung-duk in early January while he was on a overseas business trip.

The parliamentary speaker also refuted the suspicion that the bribes were bankrolled with money he took from leisure company Ramid Group. Prosecutors suspect the main source of the alleged bribes was 200 million won ($178,400), which Ramid paid the prosecutor-turned-parliamentary speaker for legal fees.

Prosecutors, however, are still weighing whether to bring official charges against Park's aides involved in the bribery scandal, including Kim Hyo-jae, who resigned as a senior presidential secretary earlier this month due to the suspicions.

The decisions over Park's election aides are expected to be made within this week.

In the face of rising pressure stemming from the vote-buying allegations, Park submitted a letter of resignation last week and is awaiting approval by the National Assembly.

Prosecutors' interrogation of Park marked their second-ever questioning of an incumbent National Assembly speaker since Kim Soo-han, the parliamentary speaker from 1996-98, was quizzed over allegedly taking illegal political funds from a businessman. (Yonhap)