The former special prosecutor who led an investigation into influence-peddling within the Park Geun-hye administration and was later indicted for corruption in a land development scandal was released on bail on Friday.

According to the legal community, the Seoul Central District Court granted bail to Park Young-soo, who will now stand hearings over alleged bribe-taking in the Daejang-dong land development scandal without pretrial detention.

Arrested and indicted on August 21 last year, Park was one of the more high-profile individuals to face accusations of receiving bribes for a private development project in Seongnam.

According to the Criminal Procedure Act, the maximum detention period for a defendant in the first trial is six months, with the former special counsel released a day before the expiration of his detention period.

Park rose to prominence after being appointed as the special counsel leading the investigation into the corruption case involving former President Park Geun-hye in 2017 that eventually led to her imprisonment.