Prosecutors expected to summon former speaker next week


A former aide to President Lee Myung-bak appeared before prosecutors Wednesday to face questioning over his alleged involvement in a cash-for-votes scandal that has rocked the ruling camp in a key election year.

Kim Hyo-jae, who was until Saturday senior presidential secretary for political affairs, is suspected of running a bribery scheme targeting the Saenuri Party’s lawmakers and other members to help Rep. Park Hee-tae win the party’s 2008 leadership election. He served as a strategist in Park’s camp at that time. 

“I am very sorry for causing concerns. I will fully cooperate with the investigation,” the 60-year-old Kim told reporters upon arrival at the entrance of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in southern Seoul early Wednesday morning.
The prosecutors were expected to focus their questions on the scale and scope of the bribery, his involvement in it and whether his boss, Park, had masterminded the scheme.

It is reported that the authorities have secured statements from other members of the camp that Kim had directed them to deliver envelopes stuffed with 2 million won in cash to party members and another containing 3 million won to Rep. Koh Seung-duck, who returned the money and later blew the whistle.

Park, who won the leadership race for what was then the Grand National Party, now the Saenuri Party, and ran it for nearly two years, denies his involvement.

Last week, he quit as the speaker of the National Assembly because of the scandal. The sixth-time lawmaker is one of key allies of the president in the parliament.

The prosecutors are likely to summon Park sometime next week, once they finish with Kim.

The scandal, revealing corruption at the very core of the conservative party, has dealt a blow to the Saenuri, already suffering from waning popularity.

The party is widely expected to lose its majority in the 299-member unicameral parliament in the April 11 general election.

The president may apologize to the public for alleged wrongdoings by Kim and other aides and relatives of his, local reports said.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)