A
high-flying prosecutor, who was demoted under impeached former president Park
Geun-hye, is overseeing the case against her as Park made her first appearance
in court
on Tuesday to face criminal charges over the corruption scandal that
ousted her.
Yoon
Seok-youl, 57, was demoted for defying his boss's order to back off a 2013
investigation into Seoul's spy agency over its suspected efforts to illegally
support Park Geun-hye's 2012 presidential bid. At the time, leading a special
investigation team, Yoon pressed on with the probe anyway, arresting spy agency
officials and raiding their offices.
Yoon was
subsequently suspended from the investigation and demoted to relatively trivial
posts outside of Seoul.
Handpicked
by new liberal President Moon Jae-in last week to head the Seoul Central
District Prosecutors' Office, Yoon now oversees the case against Park, who was
arrested in March over charges she took bribes from big business leaders.
On Tuesday,
Park denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty on the first day of the
arguments.[L4N1IO06R] Moon, who took office two weeks ago, has promised to get
tough on chaebol bosses who commit crimes.
Yoon was
nicknamed the 'Swordsman' for prosecuting the country's two most powerful
businessmen - Samsung Group scion Jay Y. Lee is in jail while undergoing trial
on charges of bribing Park, while Hyundai Motor Group Chairman MK Chung was
given a suspended sentence and later pardoned in a 2006 corruption case.
Proving Park
guilty would be a lengthy, uphill battle even for Yoon with hundreds of
witnesses expected to be called, lawyers say.
COLLUDING
WITH FRIEND
Prosecutors
accuse Park of colluding with her friend Choi Soon-sil in taking bribes from
corporate bosses, including about 29.8 billion won ($37 million) from Samsung,
in exchange for business favors.
Park, her
friend Choi and Samsung's Lee have all denied any wrongdoing.
"So far
in this case, the court of public opinion has been trying Park in a jumble of
political and legal issues. But she's been impeached, that's over," said
lawyer Kang Shin-up.
"Now
it's a matter of criminal guilt or innocence, in which the judge has the
initiative."
Yoon did not
appear at court on Tuesday. Spokespeople for the Seoul Central District
Prosecutor's Office could not be reached for comment.
In Park's
trial, the prosecution will seek to build evidence from material gathered over
months of investigation, including thousands of pages of witness statements and
some 39 notebooks prosecutors secured from one of Park's former aides.
"Although prosecutors bear a
considerable burden of proof, they have already gathered much material, so it
will be a process of calling all the people involved and proving their case point
by point," said a lawyer who was a member of the special prosecutors' team
probing allegations against Park and corporate leaders. The lawyer declined to
be identified.
Yoon
returned to the public spotlight in late 2016 when he was asked to join the special
prosecution team charged with investigating Park's corruption scandal.
When asked
whether he will "retaliate" against Park in return for his earlier
demotion, Yoon said in December: "If a prosecutor retaliates with
investigative rights, he is a gangster, not a prosecutor."
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