South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday raided a local university over the allegation that it showed favoritism to Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of President Park Geun-hye’s confidante Choi Soon-sil.

The special investigative team also summoned former Korea Racing Authority chief Hyun Myung-kwan over his alleged provision of illegal financial support for Chung. Her mother is currently indicted for her role in the influence-peddling and corruption scandal in which Park is a suspect.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution raided Ewha Womans University, along with the home of its former chief Choi Kyung-hee, in regards to the school’s admission process in 2015, which supposedly showed favoritism to Chung. 

The focus of the investigation is expected to be on whether there was outside pressure on the process, particularly from Cheong Wa Dae.

“If Chung herself was directly involved in corruption allegations related to admission or grades, or if we (the prosecution) feel the need for investigation, we will summon Chung for questioning,” said an official from the prosecution.

The Education Ministry’s probe last week clarified that Chung, a professional dressage rider, had received favorable treatment in the admission process. The ministry had requested that the school cancel Chung’s admission. Ewha Womans University had revived the application process for dressage riders in 2015, the year Chung applied.

Although regulations prohibit applicants from bringing their medals to admission interviews, Chung was allowed to show it to the interviewers. It was one that she had won at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

She was also found to have received other benefits including getting grades for eight subjects without submitting any work and having a professor do a project for her.

But the ministry stopped short of finding out who was responsible for giving the orders.

Although the head of the admissions office told the ministry officials that she was instructed by then-university head Choi Kyung-hee to pick Chung, the ministry said it did not find related evidence.

Education Minister Lee Jun-sik said that the ministry “did not see” if anyone of higher authority had influenced the process, pinpointing Choi and Chung as the ones responsible for the admission fraud.

Given that the university has won some 18.5 billion won ($15.7 million) worth of state projects each year since Chung’s admission, it has been alleged that the state funding was a trade-off for pandering to Park’s inner circle.

Another aspect of the corruption scandal involving Chung was that the Korea Racing Authority’s recently established road map to support dressage prospects’ training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was actually a plan exclusively designed for Chung. The plan -- jointly set up by the Korea Equestrian Federation -- involved an 18.6 billion won donation by Samsung Group.

A former official of the KRA, Park Jae-hong, who was sent to Germany as part of the plan, told local media that the funds provided by Samsung were pocketed by the Choi family.

Investigators are expected to question former KRA chief Hyun on why and how the organization came to establish the road map, and whether there was any deal with Samsung or Choi.

Samsung is one of the local corporations who made an accumulated 77.4 billion won in donations to the nonprofit Mir and K-Sports foundations, which prosecutors believe were used for Choi’s personal gain. But the prosecution is investigating to see if the donations were actually bribes from the companies.

After the prosecution named Park as a suspect in its criminal investigation, the president refused to comply with the probe.

But the prosecution reiterated Tuesday that a face-to-face interview was necessary for the investigation, particularly concerning her private meeting with the heads of the seven biggest companies in the country. She is accused of coercing the companies into making the donations to the foundations.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)