Former Vice Knowledge Economy Minister Park Young-joon faced imminent arrest on Thursday afternoon after being interrogated by prosecutors on suspicion of receiving bribes in exchange for influence-peddling in a construction project.

Park denied most of the allegations during the 18-hour interrogation at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday.

Prosecutors filed for an arrest warrant for Park on charges of receiving 200 to 300 million won between 2005 and 2007.

Park’s arrest is to deal a blow to the lame duck administration of President Lee Myung-bak, following the earlier arrest of former Korea Communications Commission chairman Choi See-joong on the same bribery charge.

Park has a close relationship with Lee, serving on his presidential transition team and later as deputy prime minister in the administration.

“It was an intense investigation. I fully clarified (the facts) and responded to the questions sincerely,” Park said, walking out of the prosecutors’ office early Thursday morning.

Park and Choi are suspected of having received hundreds of millions of won each from Lee Jeong-bae, former representative of the construction project called Picity, through a broker named Lee Dong-ryul.

The prosecutors have reportedly secured evidence showing that Park received the bribes around the time he was heading the political affairs department at Seoul City, possibly through the bank accounts of his close associate, businessman Lee Dong-jo.

The prosecutors also notified Lee Dong-jo to appear for questioning once he returns from an extended trip to China.

The investigation will likely spread further as the prosecutors hone in on former Seoul Metropolitan Government officials, including Kang Cheol-won, who headed the city’s public relations from 2006 and later headed the political affairs team in 2010. Kang was also questioned by the prosecutors earlier this week.

According to local news reports, prosecutors also suspect Kang of having received tens of millions of won from the broker Lee in 2007. It was reported that Park called Kang to ask about the progress of the Picity project approval. Kang is a close aide to former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

Seoul City approved the use of land for the Picity project in 2006. The project, which was taken over by POSCO earlier this year after Lee Jeong-bae went bankrupt, has been delayed due to financial difficulties.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)