By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
State prosecutors are widening investigations into a bribery scandal over a country club in which the owner had allegedly paid off bureaucrats and politicians to enlist their help in obtaining construction permits.
With several names of legislators and high-ranking officials being tossed around, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Friday sought an arrest warrant for Han Seok-gyu, a director of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.
The 50-year-old is suspected of receiving bribes between 2004 and 2007 in exchange for helping Kong Kyung-sik, owner of Statewilshire Golf Club in Ansung, Gyeonggi Province, earn approval for a business license after its first attempt was rejected.
The golf club is scheduled to open later next year. Kong is currently in custody for bribery charges.
Last week, a former lawmaker from Ansung city was arrested for receiving money from the owner of the club.
The prosecution suspects that Kong created a slush fund of more than 8.4 billion won by manipulating accounting books and used part of it to bribe influential figures, indicating the probe into political and business circles will be further extended and the possibility is lingering that it will discover new “beneficiaries.”
How the owner had secured funds for the construction in the first place is also being investigated.
Citing a report from the state financial watchdog, the prosecution said Kong had borrowed nearly 160 billion won from financial institutions despite the fact that his business was unprofitable.
Prosecutors suspect that lawmakers and bureaucrats on the take from the owner exerted their influence to have the banks offer funds it would not have otherwise.
The prosecution recently added more personnel to the unit, which is responsible for investigating the scandal.
“Any immediate summons of politicians for questioning is unlikely,” said a prosecutor. “We are calculating when the best time to summon them is because of its impact on the political circle.”