2 pro - Park lawmakers indicted for bribery SEOUL , Jan . 22 ( Yonhap ) -- Prosecutors on Monday indicted two opposition lawmakers , who are close to ousted President Park Geun - hye , on bribery charges . Seoul Central District Prosecutors ' Office said Reps . Choi Kyung - hwan and Lee Woo - hyun of the Liberty Korea Party will stand trial for accepting kickbacks from the National Intelligence Service ( NIS ) , and a local government official and businessmen , in return for favors . Choi , a former finance minister , has been charged with bribery , and Lee with bribery and violation of the political fund law , the court said . Both were arrested early this month . Choi , 63 , is suspected of taking 100 million won ( US $ 93 , 500 ) from the spy agency in 2014 in exchange for exerting influence to keep the budget intact for the NIS ' off - books fund , known as the " special activities fund . " Choi was deputy prime minister for economic affairs and finance minister at the time . The opposition bigwig is also accused of asking the NIS to increase the amount of funds the agency illegally provided to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae the same year , when the former president Park was in office . Lee is accused of receiving 13 . 1 billion won between 2014 and 2016 from a former city council chief and local businessmen in his constituency . Prosecutors believe he took the graft from the council head in the provincial city of Namyangju , who was seeking his influence to win mayoralty candidacy ahead of the 2014 general elections . The businessmen who paid him allegedly wanted him to pull strings in his favor to win business opportunities in some key social infrastructure projects . Prosecutors said they will also seek to forfeit the illegal funds through the court proceedings . Choi and Lee have denied any wrongdoing . Reps . Choi Kyung - hwan ( L ) and Lee Woo - hyun of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party are seen in this composite file photo on Jan . 3 , 2018 . ( Yonhap ) elly @ yna . co . kr ( END )