SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean prosecutors said today that they want a court to issue a warrant to arrest former President Park Geun-hye on corruption allegations.
The announcement came about a week after prosecutors questioned Park for 14 hours over suspicions that she colluded with a confidante, currently jailed, to extort from companies and committed other wrongdoing.
The Seoul Central District Court had no immediate comment. The court is expected to call in Park for questioning before it determines whether to issue the arrest warrant.
The arrest is the next step before Park can be formally charged with crimes such as extortion, bribery and abuse of power. A bribery conviction alone is punishable by up to a life sentence in South Korea.
While in office, Park had presidential immunity from prosecution, though her confidante Choi Soon-sil, many of her top government officials and Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong have already been arrested or indicted in the scandal.
Prosecutors accuse Park of conspiring with Choi, a top presidential adviser, to pressure 16 business groups, including Samsung, to donate $69 million to two nonprofits that Choi controlled and used for personal profit. The companies told investigators that they couldn't refuse because they feared business disadvantages such as state tax investigations.
Prosecutors also believe that the money Samsung gave Choi could qualify as bribes provided to Park.
A Section on 03/27/2017