South Korea's top court on Friday sent the corruption cases of two former and sitting judges charged with bribery in a high-profile judiciary lobbying scandal that rocked the country last year to retrial.
The Supreme Court upheld the conviction for Choi You-jeong, a judge-turned-lawyer, on charges of bribery and violation of Attorneys-at-Law Act. But it quashed the earlier ruling and ordered a retrial for part of her tax evasion charges, saying to the effect that the charges should be dropped as she did pay them via other means such as electronic devices.
Choi, 47, has been sentenced to six years in prison with a forfeit of 4.3 billion won ($4 million) for taking some 10 billion won in kickbacks from two local businessmen from 2015-2016. They were charged with illegal overseas gambling and running an unauthorized financial firm. She told them she could help them bargain their time in prison or get a suspended sentence.
The top court also ruled that the bribery case of Kim Soo-chun, a judge at the Incheon District Court, to be retried as part of the charges that were dismissed in the appellate court call for re-examination, it said.
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Choi You-jeong, a judge-turned-lawyer charged with bribery in a massive lobbying scandal, is circled in red in this photo taken Dec. 22, 2017, as she enters the Supreme Court to attend her trial in southern Seoul. On the right is her official picture. (Yonhap) |
Kim has been indicted on charges that he received 180 million won in bribes from Jung Woon-ho, then head of a local cosmetics chain, in return for pulling the strings for him to mitigate the sentence in his trial. Jung is also one of the businessmen who bribed Choi. Kim was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to forfeit 120 million won.
The top court did not accept the previous ruling that cleared him of part of the graft charges, saying he should be convicted on all charges, including bribery and intermediation. If the retrial ends in line with the top court's ruling, Kim will likely be given a heavier punishment.
The lobbying scandal involving Jung and the judges, along with other similar cases that followed, put the judiciary and legal circles under intense public scrutiny last year, leading to a formal apology by the then Supreme Court Chief Yang Sung-tae. (Yonhap)
