A US bribery case against two relatives has cast a pall over former United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon's planned return this week to South Korea, where he is expected to launch a bid to run for president.
Ban, 72, has not declared his candidacy but has had a team of people laying groundwork in Seoul ahead of his planned arrival in South Korea on Thursday afternoon.
The former foreign minister consistently polls as a top candidate as South Korea braces for the possibility of an early election following parliament's December impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in an influence-peddling scandal.
If South Korea's Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment, Park would become South Korea's first democratically elected leader to leave office in disgrace.
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Lee Do-woon, Ban's spokesman, was quick to distance Ban from the indictment.
"Ban was greatly surprised by the news, which he learned from the media. He knows nothing about it," said Lee, who also said Ban would address various concerns directly upon his arrival in South Korea.
Ban will take at least two weeks to decide whether he will run for president instead of taking to the campaign trail immediately, as many analysts and observers had expected, Lee told a media briefing.
Ban's spokesman also asked his supporters to refrain from greeting him on his arrival at Incheon airport.
Ban was not immediately available for comment. While not yet declaring an intention to run for president, he has said he would devote himself to the country after his UN tenure ended.
Prosecutors in New York said Ban's brother, Ban Ki Sang, and his son, Joo Hyun Bahn, had thought they had a can't-miss plan to sell Landmark 72, an ailing skyscraper complex in Hanoi, Vietnam. The would pay $US2.5 million in bribes to the head of a sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East to buy the complex, prosecutors said.
Instead, their middleman stole the initial payment, and the three of them found themselves in the US government's cross-hairs. They were indicted on Tuesday and charged with participating in an international bribery scheme.
The pair arranged to pay a $US500,000 bribe upfront to the head of a Middle Eastern sovereign fund to buy the complex for $US800 million, and another $US2 million payment when the deal was closed, according to the indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
Malcolm Harris, 52, a blogger who lived in Brooklyn and Manhattan, boasted of connections to Middle Eastern royalty, authorities said. He allegedly blew the $US500,000 on luxuries, including expensive restaurants and hotels and a penthouse apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, according to the indictment. A fourth man, Sang Woo, 35, of Edgewater, New Jersey, was also charged, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the anti-bribery law.
Lawyers for the four couldn't immediately be contacted for comment. Bahn and Woo were arrested and were scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, authorities said. Ban and Harris remain at large, authorities said.
Reuters, Bloomberg