Prosecutors are moving fast to get some answers in a high-profile corruption scandal.
They put the former President Roh Moo-hyun's nephew-in-law Yeon Chul-ho behind bars Friday on charges of receiving 5 million US dollars from businessman Park Yeon-cha who has been indicted for tax evasion and bribery.
Nephew-in-law Yeon has admitted to accepting the money from Park who is chairman of shoemaker Taekwang Industry but insists it was for a legitimate investment into his startup company.
Prosecutors say the money was given just two days before Roh's presidency came to an end.
Prosecutors are focusing efforts on finding out the exact nature of the money because they believe Yeon and Roh's older brother visited Park in Vietnam and requested 5 million dollars late in 2007.
Taking a closer look at this complex scandal around former President Roh:
In the case of one of the former president's closest confidants Chung Sang-moon the court rejected the prosecution's request for his arrest saying investigators hadn't collected enough evidence to put him in custody.
Businessman Park claims he had a bag filled with one million dollars delivered to Chung on the request of the former president.
Chung and Park are also linked with Kang Geum-won the CEO of Changshin Textile Company and all three are said to have met in the summer of 2007.
And Kang, a supporter of former President Roh, was arrested late Thursday for tax evasion and embezzlement.
So what initially started off as an investigation into a businessman handing out money to political heavyweights has turned into an explosive controversy for Roh and many of those linked to him.
Kang Che-ry, Arirang News.
APR 10, 2009
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