Chung Ho-young, the former special counsel in the so-called BBK case, arrived at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office at 1:48 p.m. to face questioning about his suspected dereliction of duty in the 2008 probe into the BBK scandal.

His summons follows a complaint from a civic organization, the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, and a liberal lawyers' group that Chung may have covered up evidence linking the former president to BBK, an investment management firm whose Korean-American head Kim Kyoung-joon was found guilty of stock price rigging. Kim continues to claim Lee was the de facto owner of the now defunct firm. He has been released after serving his prison term.

"I, as a special counsel, carried out the (BBK) probe based on the review of relevant laws. If there is any misunderstanding, I'll earnestly give an explanation," Chung told reporters before entering the prosecutors' office.

Chung served as an independent counsel to investigate the allegation shortly after the 2007 presidential election, which was won by Lee. After months of investigation, Chung and his team dropped all allegations against Lee, clearing the way for him to take the top executive office. Lee, a conservative, served as president from 2008 to 2013.

The prosecution's fresh attempt to investigate the BBK scandal comes as part of its broader investigation into a slush fund scandal, in which the former president and his family are suspected of embezzling billions of won from an auto parts maker, DAS, suspected to be owned by Lee, an allegation he strongly denies.

As recent evidence suggests possible links between Lee and DAS, as well as Chung's knowledge of it, the former special counsel voluntarily held a press conference earlier and claimed he had only dropped the allegations against Lee because the evidence he had found suggested a DAS employee was responsible for misappropriating and embezzling billions of won. (Yonhap)