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Investigators of the special prosecutors team investigating the Park Geun-hye/Choi Sun-sil scandal remove seized items from the National Pension Service headquarters in Seoul‘s Nonhyeon neighborhood

The special prosecutors team led by Park Young-soo launched its full-scale investigation into the Park Geun-hye/Choi Sun-sil scandal on Dec. 21 with a search and seizure related to third-party bribery acceptance charges against Park and third-party bribery offering charges against Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

The team sent special investigators to around ten locations to acquire materials that day, including the fund management headquarters of the National Pension Service in Seoul’s Nonhyeon neighborhood and the office of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s pension policy bureau director at the Sejong Government Complex. In choosing the National Pension Service among its first raid targets, the team appeared to be focusing first on charges that the government backed the service‘s approval of the Samsung C&T/Cheil Industries merger - a matter directly tied to Lee’s acquisition of management authority - in exchange for Samsung’s support to Choi and her daughter Jung Yu-ra.

The special prosecutor is also looking into breach of trust charges against current and former officials in the National Pension Service decision-making chain, including former fund management headquarters chief Hong Wan-seon, for allegedly causing damages to the service with their decision to approve the merger. The special prosecutor plans to focus his investigation on whether Blue House pressure played a part in the service’s decisions at the time.

In connection with charges that Jung - who is reportedly in Germany at present - had someone else take the Ewha Womans University entrance examination for her, the prosecutor received a court arrest warrant on obstruction charges the day before to bring her into custody.

“We plan to request cooperation from the German prosecutors in the investigation with regard to transferring Jung into custody, and we have also begun taking measures to cancel her passport,” said team spokesperson and special prosecutor’s aide Lee Gyu-cheol.

The court announced the same day that it had granted an extension until Jan. 21 of an ordering barring Choi and former Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Policy Coordination Ahn Jong-beom from meeting anyone except legal counsel. Both Choi and Ahn are currently in jail following arrest and indictment.

By Kim Jeong-pil and Choi Hyun-june, staff reporters

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