By Lee Hyo-sik
National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae will be questioned at his residence in Seoul, Sunday morning, over his alleged involvement in a vote-buying scandal engulfing the ruling party, the prosecution said Friday.
Prosecutors will grill Park, a six-term lawmaker, over allegations that he bribed lawmakers during the leadership race of the Grand National Party (GNP) in 2008, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. The GNP recently changed its name to the Saenuri Party. Park won the GNP chairmanship and remained in the post until September 2009.
“Instead of summoning Park to the prosecution office, we decided to send a team to his residence at 10 a.m. Sunday,” a prosecutor told reporters. “We decided to do so as there is no precedent for summoning a parliamentary speaker. It’s a show of respect for the position.’’
Park has denied his involvement in the cash-for-votes scheme, but tendered his resignation to the National Assembly on Feb. 9 to take “moral” responsibility. The Assembly must hold a general meeting to accept his resignation, but the ruling and opposition parties have not convened it yet as both sides are at odds over overhauling regional electorates ahead of the April 11 general election.
He will be quizzed about whether he was aware of the provision of envelopes containing cash by his staff members to GNP lawmakers in a bid to buy their votes before the party’s national convention in July 2008.
“After questioning Park, we will decide on whether to indict him. Other people involved in the scandal, including Kim Hyo-jae, the former senior presidential secretary for political affairs and Cho Jung-man, Park’s chief policy secretary, will also face prosecution,” the prosecutor said.
Kim, who was the chief campaigner for Park in 2008 and was appointed as senior presidential secretary last year, is suspected of ordering party officials to deliver envelopes of cash to ruling party lawmakers. The latter included Rep. Koh Seung-duk, who blew the whistle by revealing that he was offered money by Park’s campaign staff.
Kim is also suspected of providing 20 million won ($18,000) to An Byung-yong, chief of the ruling party’s main chapter in Seoul, who allegedly gave it to five of its members and ordered them to deliver it to the secretary-generals of 30 other party chapters in the capital.
Investigators said Park was aware of and approved such activities masterminded by Kim, who worked as the chief campaign manager for him during the 2008 election.
On Wednesday, the prosecution grilled Kim for 14 hours about his alleged involvement in bribing lawmakers. The former presidential secretary resigned on Feb. 10 after Ko Myung-jin, Park’s former secretary, told investigators that he received an envelope containing 3 million won returned by Koh and reported it to Kim.
Ko also stated that Kim provided the 20 million won to An. Ko’s testimony was also believed to have forced Park to step down.