Cheong Wa Dae officials announced Thursday that an influential aide to President Roh Moo-hyun has expressed his intention to resign amid criticism that he failed to properly deal with the matter of an in-law of Roh suspected of raising a huge amount of funds using his family connections.

An official said that senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Moon Jae-in recently expressed his intention to resign, adding it was not clear at the moment whether Moon would run in April's general election on the ticket of the pro-government Uri Party.

Critics have charged that Moon's office did not do enough to prevent Min Kyung-chan, a brother-in-law of Roh Moo-hyun's elder brother, from allegedly fraudulently raising 65 billion won (US$55.9 million) from investors, even though it had taken note of the case before it was revealed to the media.

Moon has also come under fire for supposedly exercising too much influence within the Cheong Wa Dae secretariat and failing to properly assist the president.