Hak Ja Han, leader of the Unification Church, has been arrested by South Korean authorities over allegations that she bribed the wife of jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol to manipulate the legislative election.

Ms Hak was arrested on Tuesday after a Seoul Central District Court granted a request by investigators to arrest the widow of the church’s South Korean founder, Sun Myung Moon, as part of a probe into allegations that she directed officials to bribe Mr Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee.

Prosecutors alleged that the 82-year-old leader had directed church officials to bribe Ms Kim with money and expensive gifts in exchange for stock manipulation and meddling in the selection of a legislative candidate.

She was also accused of paying $71,800 to conservative lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, a staunch supporter of Mr Yoon, as part of the bribery scheme.

The decision to detain Ms Hak came almost a month after the former first lady was arrested and charged to court on bribery and other fraud offences, amid a widening probe into the country’s martial law crisis and scandals involving the once powerful couple.

The Unification Church had previously criticized the attempt to arrest Ms Hak, noting that she appeared for questioning last week in the middle of recovering from a heart procedure while accusing the prosecutors of disrespecting an “internationally respected religious leader”.

However, prosecutors argued that her detention was necessary, saying that she posed a risk of destroying evidence. She is currently being held at a detention centre near Seoul.