South Korea's ex-president Geun-hye bags another 8 years in prison over corruption allegations
- Ex-president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, has bagged eight more years in prison
- She was sentenced by a South Korean court on Friday, July 20, after being found guilty of loss of government funds
- She was also found guilty of interfering in a 2016 parliamentary election
Former president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, has been sentenced to eight more years in prison by a South Korean court on Friday, July 20, after being found guilty of causing loss of government funds and interfering in a 2016 parliamentary election.
Park, who was already sentenced to 24 years in jail after she was found guilty by a lower court in April of separate charges including bribery, abuse of power and coercion, became South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced out of office.
According to a court spokeswoman, all sentences must be served consecutively if they are upheld, Firstpost reports.
YEN.com.gh gathers that the court ordered her out of office over a scandal that exposed a web of corruption between political leaders and the country’s powerful conglomerates, or chaebol.
The 66-year-old former president has denied wrongdoing and was not present in court. The court also found the ex-president guilty of interfering in the ruling party’s selection of candidates for the parliamentary election, breaching the president’s obligations to honour the party system.
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According to the Seoul central district court, Park colluded with her former aides to cause the loss of government funds worth about $26.49 million from the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Presiding judge, Seong Chang-ho, said: “Park’s private use of the funds weakened the principles of executing government funds, and barred the country’s chief spy agency from using the funds for its core duty of protecting the country and the people."
“This even could have caused danger for the country and the people, so a rigorous punishment for the defendant is needed."
The presiding judge said that an appeal against the ruling could be lodged.
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Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh previously reported that Park Geun-hye who is the former president of South Korea ha been sentenced to 24 years in prison after she was found guilty of abuse of power and corruption.
The former president was sentenced on Friday, April 6, although she was not present at the ruling citing sickness.
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Source: YEN.com.gh