Seoul: A special counsel team indicted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Monday on charges of getting a longtime supporter to pay for opinion polls conducted by a self-proclaimed power broker ahead of the mayoral election in 2021.

According to Yonhap News Agency, special counsel Min Joong-ki's team, which is investigating corruption allegations surrounding former first lady Kim Keon Hee, announced the indictment of the mayor without physical detention on charges of violating the Political Funds Act. The team suspects that Oh orchestrated the payment of 33 million won (US$22,400) through his supporter and businessman Kim Han-jung, to Myung Tae-kyun, the power broker, for conducting 10 public opinion surveys from January to February 2021.

The alleged payment was reportedly made in five installments between February and March of that year, directed to an employee of Future Korea Research Institute, a polling company effectively managed by Myung, just before Oh's election in April. Former Seoul Deputy Mayor Kang Cheol-won, who served as chief of staff for Oh's campaign, is accused of collaborating with Myung on the surveys at Oh's behest. Both Kang and Kim were also indicted on the same charges on Monday.

Mayor Oh has refuted the allegations, asserting that he neither commissioned the surveys nor received them from Myung, and claimed that Kim's payment was unrelated to him. Conversely, Myung alleged that he met with Oh seven times, during which the now mayor purportedly pleaded for assistance, seeking opinion polls that would show him outperforming his rival Na Kyung-won.

Kim, the supporter, contended that his payment was not linked to Oh's campaign and was instead intended to gain favor with Myung, hoping he would speak positively of Oh to Yoon Suk Yeol, who later became president. Myung is known to have maintained close ties with Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

In a statement issued following the indictment, Oh criticized the special counsel team, claiming the action was taken under the directives of the ruling Democratic Party. He dismissed Myung's opinion polls as "fabricated" and "fake." "The special counsel's indictment will soon be revealed to be nothing but an 'offering indictment' for the Lee Jae Myung administration and political maneuvering," Oh stated.