A former vice culture and sports minister was formally arrested by prosecutors on Monday for allegedly coercing South Korea's largest conglomerate Samsung to donate over a billion won to a corporation controlled by a niece of President Park Geun-hye's close friend.
The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to arrest Kim Chong, 55, on charges of abuse of authority and leaking official secrets, acknowledging the reason and necessity for the detention.
According to prosecutors, Kim is suspected of pressuring Samsung Group between September 2015 and February this year to fund some 1.6 billion won ($1.35 million) to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, set up in June 2015 and controlled by Chang Si-ho.
Chang is the niece of Choi Soon-sil, who was indicted Sunday on charges of collaborating with the president and former presidential aides to interfere in state affairs and peddle influence on the country's big business groups.
The same court also issued a warrant to formally arrest Chang on the same day for allegedly collaborating with Kim in the process and embezzling some of the money.
There have been allegations that the center was established for Choi and Chang to pocket profits amid the country's preparation for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
The center received 670 million won of funding from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism last year, which is rare for a newly established corporation. Kim is suspected of having played a role in the decision.
The former vice minister is also accused of leaking government secrets to Choi, who holds no governmental post nor has any policy experience, reporting on state affairs related to the culture and sports industries.
In return, he allegedly asked Choi, suspected of having been a behind-the-scenes power broker in the current administration, to influence the posting of officials.
Before being named vice minister in 2013, Kim was a professor in the department of sports industry at Seoul's Hanyang University.
Kim is known to have wielded strong influence over the sports industry until he offered to resign late last month in the wake of the scandal. (Yonhap)
