SEOUL — South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a key ally of President Moon Jae-in on a dozen charges including bribery as they concluded a monthslong probe into a political scandal that rocked Seoul’s liberal government and sparked huge protests.
In a rare public response to an ongoing criminal case, Moon’s office released a statement accusing prosecutors of pushing an excessive probe into former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and questioned whether it was politically motivated.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Cho was charged for receiving 6 million won ($5,190) in bribes, in the form of scholarships his daughter received from a medical school in Busan from 2017 to 2018, when he served as Moon’s senior secretary of civil affairs.
A prosecution official said Cho faces 11 other charges, including working with his wife to manipulate official documents and create fake materials to help their daughter’s admission into the school. He is also charged with obstructing justice and attempting to tamper with evidence regarding his family’s dubious private equity investments, according to the official, who didn’t want to be named, citing office rules.
Prosecutors arrested Cho’s university professor wife, Chung Kyung-shim, in October.
