An appellate court on Friday upheld a two-year prison term and a fine of 390 million won ($348,900) given to a cousin of President Lee Myung-bak's wife for receiving bribes from an ailing savings bank in return for influence peddling.
Kim Jae-hong, the cousin of first lady Kim Yoon-ok, was convicted of taking 390 million won in kickbacks from the chairman of Jeil Savings Bank between September 2008 and April 2011, in exchange for lobbying on behalf of the troubled bank's survival.
Despite the lobbying, the lender had its business suspended by a financial regulator in September 2011 due to its capital shortage.
"Kim, as an in-law of the president, committed a crime that ultimately resulted in the president offering an apology," Judge Seo Kee-moon of the Seoul High Court said. "The ruling was made in consideration of the seriousness of his crime."
Following a string of graft scandals involving one of his brothers, ex-aides and his in-laws, Lee in July apologized to the nation, saying "disgraceful incidents have recently happened to my family and surroundings and caused so much anxiety to people."
A lower court in April sentenced Kim, a former chief of a welfare foundation under the state-run tobacco distributor KT&G Corp, to a two-year prison term and 390 million won in fines.
The ruling was the second case in which a relative of the president's wife was convicted of influence peddling. In 2009, another cousin of the first lady was sentenced to three years in jail for taking billions of won in kickbacks in exchange for election nominations and employment opportunities at state-run businesses. (Yonhap News)
