South Korean prosecutors say president colluded in corruption scandal

TOKYO — South Korea’s embattled president colluded with a confidante to extract $37 million from Samsung in return for granting favorable treatment to the corporate behemoth, special prosecutors asserted Monday after a 75-day investigation of the corruption scandal that has been roiling the country.

The damning 101-page report recommends five more charges against Park Geun-hye, taking the total to 13 and paving the way for her to be indicted if she is ejected from office. The Constitutional Court is set to announce, perhaps as soon as Friday, whether it will uphold a parliamentary motion to impeach Park, who has been suspended from duties for three months.

“The core purpose of this investigation was to shed light on the chronic collusion between private interests and the government, and to expose cases of abuse of state power for personal gain,” Park Young-soo, head of the special prosecution team, told reporters in Seoul on Monday as he released the report.

The special prosecutors indicted 30 people in connection with the corruption and influence-peddling scandal, which has ensnared business chiefs, presidential aides and prosecutors.

Read the whole story from The Washington Post.

Featured image courtesy of Reuters.