Former Lee aide gets prison term for bribery in savings bank scandal

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- A former legal affairs aide for President Lee Myung-bak was sentenced to one and a half years in prison on Thursday for receiving bribes in return for using his influence to gain favor for a scandal-ridden savings bank.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the prison term to Eun Jin-soo, who also served as a vice-ministerial level auditor at the Board of Audit and Inspection, along with an order to forfeit the 70 million won (US$61,815) he took in bribes.

Eun, who in 2007 was a legal adviser to then president-elect Lee's transition team, was indicted on charges of receiving the money in 2010 from Yoon Yeo-sung, a lobbyist for Busan Savings Bank, in return for peddling his influence to win the troubled bank time and a chance to revive.

Eun was also charged with helping his brother land a lucrative job at a casino firm through Yoon.

"Eun's crime, committed by using his influence as an auditor, weakened social trust toward public workers, and the bribes he took are a huge sum while the money his brother pocketed reached 100 million won," Judge Kim Woo-jin said.

Eun is one of more than 70 people indicted in the massive bribery scandal engulfing the bank, whose operations were suspended in February due to capital shortages.

A dozen politicians and high-ranking public officials were indicted on charges of taking money in return for peddling influence to block the suspension while the bank's top executives and major shareholders were convicted of taking illegal loans out of the bank, the major cause of the bank's failure. About 20,000 depositors and bond holders at Busan Bank and its four other suspended savings bank affiliates face the danger of losing their savings following the suspension.