Former special counsel Park Young-soo arrested on second attempt

Politics

Published: 04 Aug. 2023, 18:39 Updated: 04 Aug. 2023, 19:01

Former special counsel Park Young-soo arrested on second attempt

Former special counsel Park Young-soo heads to his warrant review hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday morning. The court rejected prosecutors' previous request for an arrest warrant against Park in late June. [YONHAP]

Former special counsel Park Young-soo, who played a key role in putting former President Park Geun-hye in prison, was arrested late Thursday.

His arrest comes after the court denied the prosecutors’ arrest request in June 2023.

The Seoul Central District Court, which reviewed the latest arrest warrant, approved the requests, citing Park’s attempt to destroy or tamper with evidence.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the former special counsel smashed his smartphone with a hammer in February, around the time the Democratic Party urged a special counsel against the so-called ‘5-billion won’ club of which Park is among the six implicated members.

Park is among the high-profile individuals, alongside former Supreme Justice Kwon Soon-il and former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do, accused of receiving bribes for a private development project in Seongnam city, Gyeonggi, when DP leader Lee Jae-myung was the city’s mayor.

In February then DP floor leader Park Hong-keun said a special counsel against the 5-billion won club is “inevitable.”

Prosecutors believe that the former special counsel met with his close aide Yang Jae-sik on February 16 to discuss the prosecutors’ investigation against the 5-billion won club.

On the same day, he reportedly smashed his smartphone and bought a new one. Yang also formatted the computer in his office in March, just five days before the prosecutors raided his office with a warrant.

Park is currently being investigated by the prosecutors’ office for accepting bribes related to the prominent Daejang-dong development scandal.

A new charge against Park in the prosecution's second arrest warrant is that he accepted 1.1 billion won in short-term loans from Hwacheon Daeyu, the developer of the Daejang-dong apartment complex construction project, to his daughter between 2019 and 2021.

The warrant also accused Park of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

The prosecutor’s office claims Park, despite being a public official, conspired with his daughter in soliciting 1.1 billion won. It has been focusing its investigation on the alleged 2.5 billion won that Park received from Hwcheon Daeyu owner Kim Man-bae, a former journalist.

Park rose to prominence after being appointed as the special counsel leading the investigation into the corruption case involving former President Park Geun-hye in 2017.

The Daejang-dong development scandal has been at the center of political scandals as DP leader Lee Jae-myung has been accused of working with private developers to change the regulations for the development project so that the developers could pocket more profits.

Although it is yet to be proven, Lee has been accused of pocketing a large portion of the profit made from the development project.

The owner of the development company, Kim Man-bae, is also accused of using his influence with former Supreme Justice Kwon Soon-il to acquit Lee Jae-myung in a court battle that could have cost him his political career.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]