Rep. Huh Tae-yeol of the ruling Saenuri Party denied Monday allegations that his younger brother took bribes from a businessman seeking the party’s nomination in the general election.

“My younger brother has long been out of contact and I would never have confided political issues in him,” said the third-term lawmaker.

“Whatever he may have schemed, I am in no way involved.”

Seoul City’s election commission earlier accused Huh’s brother of taking 500 million won ($438,000) in kickbacks from a family member of a construction firm chief executive in exchange for his nomination.

The panel also demanded that authorities investigate whether the lawmaker, too, was involved.

Huh claimed that he met his brother last August for the first time in years, but the meeting lasted less than five minutes as he showed up with a stranger, who turned out to be the self-proclaimed bribe-giver.

“Sensing that he was up to something, I immediately left and have never spoken to him over the issue since then,” he said.

“I have no idea where he is currently located but will cooperate with the prosecution in finding out.”

Huh also apologized for bringing controversy to the party, especially with the April general elections approaching and the official campaign period kicking off this week.

The given scandal came amid the ongoing disputes that the ruling party’s candidate nomination screening processes were unfair and based on factional interests.

The Busan lawmaker earlier failed to win the aspired candidacy in his longtime constituency but decided to stay in the party.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)