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Former President Park Geun-hye was indicted by Prosecutors on Apr. 17 on charges of bribery. Her trial will begin in mid-May. (Hankyoreh file photo)

The Prosecutors Special Investigation Headquarters indicted currently detained former President Park Geun-hye on Apr. 17 on charges related to 59.2 billion won (US$52.2 million) in bribes.

This is the third time that a former South Korean President has ended up in court, after Roh Tae-woo (in office 1988-93) and Chun Doo-hwan (1979-88).

Prosecutors also decided the same day to indict former Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs Woo Byung-woo without detention, a move that is likely to have critics accusing them of letting him off the hook. The indictments brought an effective end to the 201-day long investigation since Sep. 29 into government interference during the Park Geun-hye administration, which came just as campaigning for the May 9 presidential election officially began the same day.

The Special Investigation Headquarters, which is led by Lee Yeong-ryeol, announced on Apr. 17 that it was indicting Park under detention on charges of bribery (a violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes) and abuse of power to obstruct the exercise of authority. The indictment submitted for Park by listed 18 charges, which were more or less the same as those listed with arrest warrant request for her on Mar. 27.

One change was that Prosecutors increased the amount of bribes cited in Park’s charges to 59.2 billion won from 43.3 billion won (US$38.2 million). The new total includes 7 billion won (US$6.2 million) in additional support provided by Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin to the K-Sports Foundation that was subsequently returned. Prosecutors also included third party bribery request charges over 8.9 billion won (US$7.9 million) in additional K-Sports Foundation funding that was demanded from SK chairperson Chey Tae-won but never actually transferred, concluding that the request was intended in exchange for renewal of SK’s selection for a duty-free store project. In the SK case, Prosecutors decided not to press charges against Chey because the money was never delivered. Shin was indicted without detention on charges of bribe offering.

Prosecutors also indicted Choi Sun-sil on additional charges of third party bribe acceptance and third party bribe requesting for conspiring with Park to demand additional funding from Lotte and SK.

Prosecutors indicted Woo without detention on charges of abuse of power to obstruct exercise of authority, coercion, violation of the Special Inspector Act, dereliction of duty, and violation of the Act on Testimony, Appraisal, etc. before the National Assembly. Woo was referred for trial without additional investigation five days after his arrest warrant request was rejected by a court. On Apr. 12, the court refused Prosecutors’ warrant request by on the grounds that there was “potential for dispute as to whether the charges hold up.” With even the court determining the charges not to have been sufficient proven in the warrant review stage, many are raising doubts as to whether Woo’s guilt can be proven in his upcoming trial. Critics are now accusing Prosecutors of hurrying to let Woo off the hook in order to shield their own leadership.

“To prove the charges in connection with Park and Choi, we reassembled a Special Investigation Headquarters consisting of 31 prosecutors and around 150 staffers, which committed its fullest efforts to finding the truth in this case: questioning Park six times, conducting search and seizure efforts on the Blue House special inspection team‘s office and six other locations, tracking around 30 bank accounts, and questioning around 110 people implicated,” the headquarters said.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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