Prosecutors to seek arrest warrant for Choi today
Choi Soon-sil, President Park Geun-hye’s confidant who is embroiled in a massive scandal, enters the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office in southern Seoul for further questioning, Tuesday, after spending the night at the Seoul Detention Center following being taken into custody the previous day. Prosecutors will seek an arrest warrant for Choi today. / Yonhap
By Kim Bo-eun
The prosecution plans to apply for an arrest warrant for Choi Soon-sil, President Park Geun-hye’s scandal-ridden confidant, today.
Earlier Monday night, prosecutors took her into custody after questioning her, out of concerns she could flee or destroy evidence.
They have to seek a warrant to formally arrest Choi within 48 hours after taking her into preliminary custody.
Prosecutors continued questioning Choi, who stayed at the Seoul Detention Center overnight, Tuesday. They interrogated her about allegations that she used key Cheong Wa Dae and business figures to force conglomerates to “donate” 80 billion won ($70 million) to establish the Mir and K-Sports foundations, which she allegedly controlled.
Choi is suspected of having funneled money from the foundations to paper companies she set up, and used some of it to cover training expenses for her daughter Chung Yoo-ra, who is a dressage competitor.
Prosecutors grilled her over the involvement of former senior presidential secretary for policy coordination An Chong-bum and Second Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Chong in the process of setting up the foundations and raising funds for them.
The prosecution said it has confirmed testimony regarding An’s involvement to some extent. The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) Vice Chairman Lee Seung-cheol also partially acknowledged An’s role during prosecutors’ questioning last Friday.
Prosecutors will summon An for questioning today.
They have also collected financial documents related to Choi from local banks to look into any irregularities as the 60-year-old is suspected of getting preferential treatment from them for loans and other financial transactions.
Prosecutors also raided companies run by Cha Eun-taek, an advertisement director and Choi’s close friend who allegedly interfered in state cultural projects.
Choi is also suspected of pressuring Lotte Group to make additional “donations” to the K-Sports Foundation ahead of the prosecution’s probe into the group over alleged irregularities, raising suspicions that the foundation requested the money in return for exercising influence on the investigation.
In addition, she is believed to have had access to highly classified state documents including the President’s speech scripts as well as security and diplomatic papers. Prosecutors are looking into allegations that based on her access to state files, Choi exerted influence on Cheong Wa dae and the government’s policies and personnel affairs.
Her daughter was allegedly granted favors in entering university.
Choi is also suspected of having violated the Foreign Exchange Transaction Law in the process of transferring assets to Germany, where she purchased property and set up paper companies. She currently faces around 10 different charges.