A special prosecutor's team will investigate a whistle blower's claim that South Korea's new spy chief and a senior presidential aide routinely took bribes from Samsung Group despite the denial of the presidential office, a spokesman said Thursday.
A progressive priests' organization publicly named the two officials as bribe takers on Wednesday, sending ripples through the Lee Myung-bak administration where top posts are being filled after its inauguration in late February.
The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae dismissed the allegation as "groundless." The denial was immediately repeated by the two officials named -- Kim Sung-ho, former defense minister nominated as head of the National Intelligence Service, and Lee Jong-chan, former Seoul High Prosecutors' Office chief appointed as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs.
The priests appear to have received the names from Kim Yong-chul, a former lawyer for Samsung who initiated an on-going independent probe by alleging in November that the Samsung Group created a huge slush fund to routinely bribe government officials, judges and prosecutors.
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