National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae's key aide was summoned for questioning Wednesday as prosecutors stepped up their investigation into allegations Park gave bribes to fellow lawmakers and party members in the 2008 election to become chairman of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP).
Cho Jeong-man, the chief policy aide to Park, appeared at the prosecution office in southern Seoul at 2 p.m. to face questioning over the bribery allegations.
The summons of the 51-year-old aide, who was in charge of financing for Park's election camp in 2008, came as prosecutors scurried to track down who was behind the suspected vote-buying.
GNP lawmaker Koh Seung-duk first alleged last month that Park bribed fellow lawmakers before being elected to the party chairmanship in 2008. Other GNP party members also said Park's camp distributed money to district party council members to muster votes.
Park dropped his party affiliation before becoming parliamentary speaker in 2010.
During Wednesday's questioning, Cho is expected to be grilled mainly over who financed the alleged bribes as well as where election funds were spent, according to prosecution sources.
Two other aides for Park have been summoned and quizzed over the bribery scandal. (Yonhap)