Prosecutors on Sunday sought an arrest warrant for a former presidential secretary for employment and labor affairs over allegations that he played a leading role in destroying evidence related to the government’s purported surveillance of civilians.

Lee Young-ho, a former aide to President Lee Myung-bak, was interrogated for some 16 hours after he turned himself in for questioning on Saturday.

“I responded conscientiously to the prosecutorial investigation,” he said while moving his way through a throng of reporters, who asked him a barrage of questions over whether he accepted a series of charges leveled against him.

Lee’s involvement was revealed after Jang Jin-su, a former official of the ethics division at the Prime Minister’s Office, claimed recently that Cheong Wa Dae ordered his office to destroy evidence of its illicit monitoring of civilians in July 2010.

Jang also claimed that Lee attempted to offer him 20 million won ($17,600) last year through his subordinate Choi Jong-seok apparently to cover up Cheong Wa Dae’s involvement.

Jang was given a suspended eight-month jail term last year for destroying evidence and is now awaiting the final Supreme Court decision. Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for Choi last week.

Amid a series of new allegations of the PMO office illicitly spying on civilians, the prosecution reopened its inquiry into the case on March 16. It has so far searched some nine offices related to the surveillance scandal and questioned some 10 people.

“We will verify the truth clearly. We will strictly deal with anybody facing charges of a crime, regardless of their status,” Chae Dong-wook, a senior prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, told reporters.

The scandal came to light in 2010 after Kim Jong-ik, a businessman, claimed that the Prime Minister’s Office illegally monitored him.

Kim posted a 25-minute video in June 2008 on his blog criticizing President Lee Myung-bak and his policies. He was a member of a group supportive of former President Roh Moo-hyun, many of whose policies have been shunned by Lee.

Opposition parties and Lee’s political foes suspected that spying on civilians was carried out under the direction of the presidential office to stymie any attempts to impede Lee’s presidency.

After their 2010 investigation into the scandal, prosecutors indicted seven officials including Lee In-kyu, head of the public ethics division at the PMO, and three of his staff received prison terms for illegal surveillance.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)