Choi, An indicted over abuse of power, coercion
Choi Soon-sil
Jeong charged with mishandling state secrets
By Kim Rahn
The prosecution on Sunday indicted President Park Geun-hye’s confidant Choi Soon-sil and two former presidential aides for their roles in the influence-peddling scandal.
Taking advantage of her long-term friendship with the President, Choi allegedly blackmailed conglomerates into providing funds for foundations she created to benefit herself, as well as meddled in state affairs by accessing confidential documents.
An Chong-bum, former presidential secretary for policy coordination, and Jeong Ho-seong, former secretary for private presidential affairs, allegedly helped Choi in these illegal activities under the President’s direction, according to the prosecution. Charges facing the three include abuse of power, coercion, attempted coercion and mishandling of classified information.
Choi, along with An, allegedly forced 53 companies to “donate” 77.4 billion won ($65.7 million) to the Mir and K-Sports foundations she established in October last year and January this year, respectively.
“During questioning, officials of the companies told the prosecution they had to donate the money for fear of possible disadvantages in business, such as disapproval of projects or tax audits, if they refused,” Lee Young-ryeol, head of the prosecution’s special investigation team, said in a nationally televised press briefing in Seoul.
In the case of the Mir Foundation, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) allegedly allotted a specific amount of donations from its member companies only a week after Choi and An made their demands.
Directors of the foundations were appointed by Choi, in contrast to what is written in the minutes of their inaugural assemblies which falsely said the FKI recommended the directors.
Choi and An allegedly forced Lotte Group to provide an additional 7 billion won but returned the money later.
After setting up the sports management company, The Blue K, Choi allegedly attempted to build sports facilities through the money donated from conglomerates including Lotte, and had the company manage them.
She and An allegedly coerced Hyundai Motor to sign advertising deals worth 6.2 billion won with The Playground, an ad company where Choi is a de facto owner. With POSCO, they attempted a suspicious deal regarding the group’s previous in-house ad firm Poreka so that visual art director Cha Eun-taek, a close friend of Choi, could take over the firm.
The two also allegedly forced Grand Korea Leisure, a casino operator under the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), to form a fencing team for the disabled and sign a contract with The Blue K for the management of the team. They also allegedly filled executive positions at KT with Cha’s friends, who allegedly helped Cha’s company win ad orders from KT.
An, who was allegedly involved in almost all of Choi’s allegations, was indicted as her accomplice. Prosecutors said they secured evidence that he operated under Park’s orders, including his notes in which he wrote down the President’s orders regarding the foundations.
Jeong was indicted for mishandling some 180 state documents to Choi. He allegedly sent the documents via email, fax or in person. Some were saved on Choi’s tablet computer while others were copied on paper. The documents include drafts of the President’s speeches, personnel issues of Cabinet members and materials related to diplomacy and the President’s visits to other countries.
“Of the documents, 47 can be clearly classified as state secrets,” Lee said.
Through recordings made on Jeong’s cell phones, prosecutors confirmed that Park ordered him to show the documents to Choi for advice.
Prosecutors said they would keep investigating further allegations involving the three people, as well as former Culture, Sports and Tourism Vice Minister Kim Chong, former Senior Presidential Secretary for Economic Affairs Cho Won-dong and Choi’s niece Jang Si-ho, until the independent counsel will take over the probe.