The prosecution on Wednesday raided the offices and home of police Superintendent Park Gwan-chun in its expanding investigation into the leak of presidential documents linked to an alleged influence-peddling scandal.

Park reportedly removed intelligence reports on Chung Yoon-hoi, a former aide of President Park Geun-hye, from the presidential office and leaked the information to the media. Chung is at the center of the political whirlwind as he is rumored to have meddled in state affairs by regularly meeting with top presidential officials.

As investigators were tracking down the source of the scandal, Chung filed his own complaint against Segye Ilbo, the vernacular that broke the story, claiming that the report damaged his reputation.

“The news report damaged the honor of the plaintiff, resulting in indescribable pain by putting (my) social existence in jeopardy,” Chung said in the complaint.

Key figures in the leak scandal have made conflicting claims, while political parties have clashed over the explosive case directly related to Cheong Wa Dae. 

The presidential office claims that the police officer removed the documents when he was reassigned from Cheong Wa Dae’s division overseeing matters regarding discipline within the civil service.

In the raids, prosecutorial investigators searched the officer’s home, his current office at Dobong Police Station and the National Police Agency division, where he was assigned after serving in the presidential office and before his current position.

Superintendent Park is said to have brought some documents to the National Police Agency office on Feb. 10, two days before his assignment at Cheong Wa Dae was terminated. He then removed the items on Feb. 16. There have been claims that the concerned documents were accessed by other police officers during this period.

The prosecution plans to question Park within the week after analyzing the confiscated materials.

The police officer has denied the allegations, and claimed that the documents were accessed by unknown parties while he was still assigned to the presidential office. He says he has evidence to support his claims, and that the theft of information is part of a ploy to damage Jo Eung-cheon, a former presidential secretary who led the team dealing with discipline within the civil service.

Since the daily Segye Ilbo carried the story on Nov. 28, eight Cheong Wa Dae officials including Lee Jae-man, the presidential administrative secretary, have lodged criminal complaints against six Segye Ilbo staff members over the report.

Following the complaint, the prosecution has banned the police officer and Jo from leaving the country. Jo, who was chief of Cheong Wa Dae’s office for civil servants’ discipline, has claimed that most of the information in the documents is credible.

Jo is also in line for questioning, as are Lee Jae-man and other Cheong Wa Dae staff who were found to have had contact with Chung.

Lee denied having close ties with Chung, but it has since been revealed the two were in contact recently. Jo claims that Lee told him to speak to Chung when he declined to take phone calls from the president’s former aide.

As the investigators delve into the case, more allegations of influence peddling by Chung have surfaced.

On Wednesday, a local daily reported that the audit of the Korea Equestrian Federation conducted in September was prompted by information provided by associates of Chung. According to the report, Cheong Wa Dae ordered the ministry to compile a report on the federation based on information provided by Chung’s associate. The associate had served as an executive of the federation.

The report also claimed that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism received direct orders from Cheong Wa Dae to conduct the audit, and that involved officials were reassigned for compiling a report that was not biased, and in favor of Park’s claims.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)