S.Korean prosecutors seek arrest warrant for opposition party lawmaker over spy agency bribery allegation

SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- An arrest warrant was sought Monday by South Korean prosecutors for a lawmaker of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party over allegations that he had received bribes from the country's spy agency when he served as the finance minister under the previous government.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office requested a warrant to detain Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan of the Liberty Korea Party for bribery charges.

Choi was suspected of receiving 100 million won (92,000 U.S. dollars) of off-book fund from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) when he served as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs and the finance minister in 2014 under the Park Geun-hye administration.

At the time, then opposition lawmakers demanded the reduction of the NIS off the book funds for special activity as the fund had an untraceable nature.

The NIS reportedly lobbied Choi to block the attempt to scale down the funds as Choi served as the finance minister who is in charge of an annual budget plan.

Prosecutors have investigated the NIS for its off the book funds that were illegally offered to presidential officials under the impeached President Park Geun-hye.

Choi was summoned by prosecutors last week for questioning, strongly denying any illegality.

By law, an incumbent lawmaker is immune from detention during the parliamentary session. An extra session kicked off Monday.

The sitting lawmaker can be detained if over half of the attending lawmakers vote in favor of it under the attendance of over half of the total legislators. Enditem