Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for two lawmakers for a second time Tuesday over a cash-for-votes scandal surrounding the main opposition Democratic Party’s (DP) 2021 leadership election, after the National Assembly refused to consent to their arrests earlier this year.

Reps. Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man, now independents after quitting the DP, are accused of involvement in distributing cash envelopes, each containing 3 million won, to 20 DP lawmakers as part of the election campaign of former DP leader Song Young-gil.

Song ultimately won the election and served as DP chairman until March 2022.

In May, prosecutors sought arrest warrants for the two, but the National Assembly rejected a request for consent to their arrests. By law, lawmakers cannot be arrested without parliamentary consent while the National Assembly is in session.

With the Assembly out of session until Aug. 16, the two can now be arrested.

The Seoul Central District Court plans to hold arrest warrant hearings Friday to determine whether to issue the arrest warrants for them.

“We requested arrest warrants again to clearly determine the lawmakers accused of taking money, and there are concerns about destroying evidence,” a prosecution official said.

Prosecutors said the latest warrant requests have additional evidence proving charges against the lawmakers.

Both Youn and Lee have denied any wrongdoing.

Source: Yonhap News Agency