Park Young Soo, the special prosecutor who was in charge of the corruption case surrounding the administration of former South Korean President Park Geun Hyue, has been indicted on Monday for similar offenses.
The prosecutor has been accused of accepting bribes in the form of branded vehicles and seafood allegedly from a businessman, according to Yonhap news agency. The Seoul Central Public Prosecutors Office also said the man has also been charged while the allegations are being investigated.
Park was the main person in charge of overseeing the investigations against the former South Korean president, who was pardoned in 2021 after serving four years and nine months in prison — out of the total 22-year sentence imposed on her.
The former leader was found guilty in April 2018 of 16 of the 18 corruption charges against her and fined 18 billion won (13.3 million euros) for all the abuses she committed during her term in office. In March 2017, she was already impeached for these scandals.
It was the now former President Moon Jae In who decided to grant Park a pardon on the grounds of her deteriorating health and after she had to be hospitalized three times due to chronic pain in her shoulder and back, which subsequently led to surgery in 2019.
Among other charges, she was found guilty of abuse of power for forcing several private companies to allocate money to foundations controlled by her confidant, Choi Son Sil. She was also convicted of pressuring Hyundai to sign a deal with a company controlled by a friend of Choi.
The former president was also found guilty of pressuring the Lotte business group to donate 7 billion won (about 5.21 billion euros) to a foundation managed by Choi and for forcing the KT company to hire a friend of hers and to sign a contract with an advertising company.
