A South Korean court approved arrest warrants early Sunday to formally detain two ex-aides to President Park Geun-hye over a scandal surrounding Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil.
Ahn Jong-beom, 57, former senior presidential secretary on policy coordination, was formally arrested on charges of abuse of power, according to local media reports.
He has been suspected of pressuring conglomerates into donating tens of millions of U.S. dollars to two dubious nonprofit foundations presumably controlled by Choi.
During the court hearing, Ahn allegedly had said he would take responsibility for wrongly assisting the president. He will be in custody for as long as 20 days for detailed investigation into whether President Park was involved in or ordered the forceful donations.
Jeong Ho-seong, 47, former presidential secretary in charge of presidential documents, was also placed under a formal detention as he is accused of leaking confidential papers to Choi on a daily basis.
He will also be detained for 20 days for a probe into the president's involvement. Prosecutors urgently arrested him on Thursday night for fear of flight and a possible attempt to destroy evidence.
Ahn and Jeong resigned last Sunday when Park accepted resignations of eight advisors. Jeong has been seen as one of so-called "three knobs of a door" that leads directly into the president due to his longtime aid since Park went into politics in 1998.
[Xinhua/china.org.cn]
6/11/16
Ahn Jong-beom, 57, former senior presidential secretary on policy coordination, was formally arrested on charges of abuse of power, according to local media reports.
He has been suspected of pressuring conglomerates into donating tens of millions of U.S. dollars to two dubious nonprofit foundations presumably controlled by Choi.
During the court hearing, Ahn allegedly had said he would take responsibility for wrongly assisting the president. He will be in custody for as long as 20 days for detailed investigation into whether President Park was involved in or ordered the forceful donations.
Jeong Ho-seong, 47, former presidential secretary in charge of presidential documents, was also placed under a formal detention as he is accused of leaking confidential papers to Choi on a daily basis.
He will also be detained for 20 days for a probe into the president's involvement. Prosecutors urgently arrested him on Thursday night for fear of flight and a possible attempt to destroy evidence.
Ahn and Jeong resigned last Sunday when Park accepted resignations of eight advisors. Jeong has been seen as one of so-called "three knobs of a door" that leads directly into the president due to his longtime aid since Park went into politics in 1998.
[Xinhua/china.org.cn]
6/11/16
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