Prosecutors make second bid to detain former special counsel

Prosecutors on Monday once again requested a detention warrant for former special counsel Park Young-soo over corruption allegations tied to a headline-grabbing land development scandal.

Former special counsel Park Young-soo [YONHAP]

Prosecutors on Monday once again requested a detention warrant for former special counsel Park Young-soo over corruption allegations tied to a headline-grabbing land development scandal.

It was the second time prosecutors formally asked a local court to issue the warrant after a previous attempt fell through in June.

Park is a key figure in the so-called Daejang-dong development scandal, suspected of receiving at least 800 million won ($628,000) in bribes from private developers in return for helping them land a development deal in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, in 2014.

At the time, Park was serving as the chair of Woori Bank’s board of directors after he rose to fame as the special counsel leading the investigation into the massive corruption case involving former President Park Geun-hye in 2017.

The former president was eventually removed from office by the Constitutional Court following her impeachment and was later indicted and convicted of multiple charges, including corruption and abuse of power.

Prosecutors also believe that Park’s daughter, who worked at Hwacheon Daeyu, a private asset management company that joined the Daejang-dong development project, received 1.1 billion won under the guise of a loan before passing it on to her father.

The scandal over Hwacheon Daeyu’s involvement in the Daejang-dong development figured prominently during the last presidential election because the project took off during Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung’s tenure as the mayor of Seongnam, where the development is located.

When Seoul prosecutors requested a detention warrant for Park in June, the Seoul Central District Court rejected it, saying there was “room for dispute” in the evidence that prosecutors had submitted.

At the time, the court ruled it was difficult to recognize the significance of an arrest.

In the weeks following the court’s decision, prosecutors intensified their investigation against Park, expanding the scope to involve his family as well.

Prosecutors raided the homes of Park’s wife and daughter last month to search for evidence that they colluded with Park to amass wealth.

Park has denied all accusations against him, saying he was “confident” that “the truth will be revealed soon.”

Prosecutors believe that Park is one of several individuals in the “5 billion won club” of people who were each promised 5 billion won by Hwacheon Daeyu.

Despite only having 50 million won in capital and no prior record of participating in real estate developments, the company was able to join the 1.5 trillion-won Daejang-dong development project launched by the Seongnam city government through a joint public-private consortium led by KEB-Hana Bank.

Other figures who were allegedly promised 5 billion won by the company include former People Power Party lawmaker Kwak Sang-do and former Prosecutor General Kim Soo-nam.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]