The main opposition party on Thursday blasted state prosecutors for intentionally leaking details of an alleged money-for-nomination scandal to damage public interest in its ongoing primary election.
A drop-off in public interest is bad news for the Democratic United Party (DUP), which wants to use the election as a springboard to raise public support for its contenders. The party is expected to pick a candidate on Sept. 16.
None of the four contenders, including front-runner Rep. Moon Jae-in, a lawyer-turned-politician, currently pose a threat to Saenuri Party's presidential candidate Park Geun-hye.
Only Ahn Cheol-soo, an entrepreneur-turned-professor, who supported an opposition camp candidate in last year's Seoul mayoral race, is able to compete on an even keel with Park, who won her party's presidential ticket on Aug. 20.
The scandal centers around allegations that Yang Kyeong-suk, the former head of Internet station Radio 21, who has close ties to the DUP, received some 3.2 billion won (US$2.82 million) from three lawmakers in return for promising to help them win opposition party nominations ahead of the April 11 general election. All four people involved in the money transfer have been taken into custody as investigators try to determine if any money reached the DUP and its members, although several newspapers reported a connection between Yang and the opposition party's floor leader Park Jie-won.
"There is suspicion within the party, that prosecutors are trying to disrupt the primary with the high profile investigation," DUP secretary general Yun Ho-jung said on a local radio talk show.
He claimed that his views were substantiated by the fact that several news outlets were receiving sensitive information that could have only come from prosecutors.
The two-term lawmaker claimed that if prosecutors were confident in their case, they should summon party members suspected of having taken money, or ask parliamentary permission to arrest DUP lawmakers that they suspect are involved in the incident.
Others such as party spokesman Woo Won-shik made clear that there was no criminal evidence whatsoever linking Yang with the DUP floor leader.
He stressed all evidence being leaked to the press is circumstantial and it was wrong to suspect the DUP floor leader took money or influenced the nomination process because he knew Yang.
The lawmaker, in addition, countered that prosecutors were trying to use the latest scandal to divert public outcry over Saenuri's "proven" nomination bribery scandal that involved a senior party official and an incumbent lawmaker.
Authorities have already arrested a former Saenuri official and has asked the National Assembly to allow the detention of Rep. Hyun Young-hee. The independent lawmaker is suspected of having offered 300 million won to a Saenuri official in exchange for her proportional representative seat.
She had been expelled by the ruling party following the allegations of bribery.
State prosecutors in Busan, meanwhile, said they have determined that Moon, who was a senior aide to late President Roh Moo-hyun, placed a call to a ranking official at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in 2003, and advised caution in regards to a probe carried out on Busan Savings Bank. The savings bank has gone bankrupt since then, causing losses for many people with money in the financial institution.
They said that while Moon asked for a cautious approach to the investigation, a request that did not necessarily mean he was trying to influence the probe, the FSS official may have interpreted the words in a different manner. Moon was in a position to exert influence at the time.
Moon testified on the matter, but said he could not recall exactly what he said to the FSS official because it was such a long time ago.
"If I made the call it would have been to get details on how the investigation was proceeding," he said.
The investigation was started after a former Saenuri lawmaker claimed in March that Moon may have exerted unlawful pressure on the FSS. Because a call was placed and there was room for misunderstanding, prosecutors acquitted the former legislator of defamation of character charges lodged by Moon following the revelation. (Yonhap)