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A South Korean court will hold a hearing on ousted leader Park Geun-hye's arrest warrant on Thursday.
The warrant covers charges such as bribery, the court said in a text message sent to reporters on Monday.
The announcement came after South Korean prosecutors said they would seek the arrest of Park, South Korea's first democratically elected president to be removed from office after a constitutional court upheld her parliamentary impeachment this month.
Key points:
- Prosecutors questioned Ms Park for more than 14 hours last week
- The court is expected to bring her in for questioning before deciding whether to issue the arrest warrant
- Bribery in South Korea is punishable with up to a life sentence
About one week earlier prosecutors grilled Ms Park for 14 hours over suspicions she colluded with a jailed confidante to extort from companies and committed other wrongdoing.
The Seoul Central District Court had no immediate comment.
The court is expected to bring in Ms Park for questioning before it determines whether to issue the arrest warrant.
The arrest is the next step before Ms Park can be formally charged with crimes such as extortion, bribery and abuse of power.
A bribery conviction alone is punishable with up to a life sentence in South Korea.
Top officials already indicted
While in office Ms Park had presidential immunity from prosecution, though her confidante Choi Soon-sil, many of her top government officials and Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong have already been arrested or indicted over the scandal.
Prosecutors accuse Ms Park of conspiring with Ms Choi and a top presidential adviser to pressure 16 business groups, including Samsung, to donate $90 million to two non-profits that Ms Choi controlled and used for personal profit.
The companies told investigators that they could not refuse because they feared business disadvantages such as state tax investigations.
Prosecutors also believe the money Samsung gave Ms Choi could qualify as bribes provided to Ms Park.
Ms Park has denied any legal wrongdoing.
She apologised for putting trust in Choi, but said she only let her edit some of her presidential speeches and provide the president with some "public relations" help.
The opposition-controlled parliament in December impeached Ms Park over the allegations and suspended her presidential powers and responsibilities before the Constitutional Court ruled on March 10 to dismiss her from the top post.
The allegations against Ms Park plunged the country into political turmoil, with Ms Park's opponents and supporters both staging massive street rallies.
Three of Ms Park's supporters, mostly elderly conservative citizens, died during clashes with the police after the March 10 court ruling.
AP
Topics: world-politics, fraud-and-corporate-crime, korea-republic-of, asia
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