President Park to be questioned this week

Special investigators get on their vehicle after being denied entry to Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. The investigators are now reviewing various options to secure evidence from the presidential office before questioning President Park Geun-hye. / Yonhap

Cheong Wa Dae officials may be arrested

By Jung Min-ho

Special investigators are preparing for face-to-face questioning of President Park Geun-hye who faces allegations of bribery, abuse of authority and mishandling of state information among others, between Wednesday and Friday, sources said.

Lawyers for the President said they will cooperate, but the two sides remain divided on how to proceed and where they will conduct the questioning.

While investigators prefer this to occur outside Cheong Wa Dae, the President’s lawyers want it to be conducted secretly due to security concerns.

Either way, the questioning would mark the first time ever for a sitting President to be interrogated over criminal allegations.

Park is accused of colluding with her friend Choi Soon-sil and other top-ranking government officials in committing many crimes, including creating a “blacklist” to discriminate against artists critical of the government, and receiving bribes from conglomerates in return for business favors.

Park won’t be prosecuted immediately regardless of what she says during the interrogation because of a Constitution clause forbidding the prosecution of a sitting president. But it may help investigators find the legal grounds to indict other key suspects in the scandal, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong who faces bribery charges linked to the President.

To prove bribery charges, experts say, investigators are required to question the givers and receivers, a process they have not accomplished so far due to the President’s refusal to answer any legal interrogation.

Meanwhile, investigators investigating the massive influence-peddling scandal involving President Park and her confidant Choi are reviewing whether they can arrest those who blocked their entry into Cheong Wa Dae last week.

Following their attempt to search the presidential office, which they see as the root of the scandal-related crimes, the investigation team, led by special prosecutor Park Young-soo, is considering “various options” to carry out the search.

“A search is an inevitable process in our investigation,” said Lee Kyu-chul, the spokesman for the team, during a media briefing Sunday. “We will await a response from acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn to our request to authorize a Cheong Wa Dae search, until today. And then, we may reveal the details of our options.”

One obvious and powerful option is to request arrest warrants for Cheong Wa Dae officials who refused to allow investigators into the presidential office, Friday, for obstruction of justice.

According to the Criminal Law, investigators are not allowed to search places that hold secret government information without the approval of those who are in charge of them. But the law also states that searching of such places cannot be denied unless it harms the country’s critical interests.

Investigators and Cheong Wa Dae apparently interpret the law differently.

Jung Youn-kuk, the presidential spokesman, even accused investigators of violating the Constitution, which states “a sitting President cannot be indicted.”

But Lee denied the claim, saying that presidential immunity from prosecution does not mean immunity from investigation.