Anchor: The ripple effects of a financial fraud scandal involving two private equity funds are rattling South Korea's political establishment. Both ruling and opposition party officials are pointing their fingers at each other after the imprisoned head of one of the funds divulged allegations of misconduct that purportedly reach deep into the inner circles of political groups and state prosecutors.
Sam Len reports. 

Report: The ruling and opposition parties faced off on Monday as a scandal involving two soured investment funds spiraled out of control after a key suspect claimed to have lobbied ranking prosecutors and opposition politicians. At the same time, an ongoing investigation has raised suspicions that former presidential office staff may have been targets of lobbying.

The Lime and Optimus investment funds were embroiled in massive financial fraud allegations after being unable to return trillions of won to their customers due to bad investments. 

The ruling Democratic Party(DP) accused prosecutors investigating the investment funds of being bribed by the suspects and called for an internal investigation into the state prosecution.

The main opposition People Power Party(PPP) is calling for an independent counsel to handle the investigation, claiming that it can no longer trust prosecutors to remain impartial on the case.

The bipartisan standoff intensified on Monday during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, where DP lawmakers urged the prosecution to look into the alleged intervention in the Lime fund scandal by opposition figures and prosecutors. 

The PPP lawmakers, on the other hand, focused on the Optimus fund scandal, where ruling bloc members were subject to alleged lobbying, and criticized the prosecution for not properly investigating the case. 

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has ordered an expanded investigation into the financial scandal, while the ruling camp wants the case to be handled by a new investigative agency set for launch later this month, whose purpose is to look into allegations of misconduct by high-ranking government officials.
Sam Len, KBS World Radio News