Kim Kwang-jun, a senior prosecutor in Seoul, was indicted Friday on bribery and influence-peddling charges in the largest-ever corruption case involving an incumbent prosecutor.

The 51-year-old official of Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office is accused of receiving money and entertainment worth over 1 billion won ($922,934) from several people, including a fugitive con artist, in return for favors, a special prosecutor investigating the case said. Kim has been under arrest since mid-November.

“We’re still looking into some other suspicions involving Kim. We will determine whether to add more charges, once that’s over,” Kim Soo-chang, a prosecutor leading the probe into the case, told a press briefing.

Major charges that have been brought against the arrested prosecutor so far are that he took 270 million won in 2008 from Cho Hee-pal, the mastermind behind the nation’s largest-ever pyramid scheme, through one of the conman’s accomplices, and that he received over 590 million won between 2008 and 2010 from Eugene Group, a local conglomerate. Kim used six borrowed-name accounts for the transactions.

Four bribe givers, including Eugene Group chairman Yu Kyung-su and his brother Yu Soon-tae, have also been indicted. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has been notified of alleged ethical violations of three prosecutors who invested in stocks on advice from the accused prosecutor, the special investigative team said.

The scandal, first brought to surface by police amid bickering between police and prosecution over investigative powers, has sparked calls for prosecution reform.

It also triggered internal turmoil at the elite law enforcement agency, which led to the resignation of Han Sang-dae, the chief prosecutor.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)