By Na Jeong-ju
A former senior presidential secretary for public relations presented himself to the prosecution for questioning over his alleged involvement in a savings bank bribery scandal, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Kim Du-woo, who resigned from the post last week, entered the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to be questioned about having taken money last year from Busan Mutual Savings Bank.
The prosecution is investigating Kim’s alleged ties to the lender, accused of having provided money to presidential aides and finance officials through 71-year-old “lobbyist” Park Tae-gyu.
The bank sought his influence to stay afloat as it was struggling from massive debts from failed real estate investments.
Kim has denied taking bribes from the lender.
The prosecution said last week that they secured testimony from Park, now behind bars, that he delivered money to a number of ranking officials, including Kim, at the request of bank Vice Chairman Kim Yang.
Park allegedly took “lobby funds” amounting to some 1.7 billion won ($1.48 million) from the executive.
Investigators said Park had maintained close relationships with ranking government officials and presidential aides. Last year, he had telephone conversations more than 90 times with secretary Kim. They played golf together three times at a club near Seoul, in which Park has a VIP membership.
“Records show Park purchased bundles of gift certificates worth millions of won whenever he met with Kim. It’s a clue to what their relationship was,” a prosecutor told reporters. “We suspect that Kim might have received more than 100 million won from Park.”