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Seoul: Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was ordered to return to prison on Thursday (October 29) when the country’s Supreme Court upheld a 17-year prison term for bribery and embezzlement offenses.
The conservative Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, had been out on bail awaiting the ruling and was not in court for the decision, but police were seen at his Seoul home to take him away, according to reports.
The ruling is not subject to further appeals and at age 78 means Lee is likely to die in prison unless he receives a presidential pardon.
The four living former presidents of South Korea are behind bars or have served prison terms, often as a result of investigations launched under successors who are political rivals.
Lee was first convicted of embezzlement and taking bribes in late 2018 and jailed. An appeals court later increased his sentence to 17 years, but granted him bail pending a new appeal to the highest court in the country.
The Supreme Court upheld his conviction for embezzling 25.2 billion won ($ 22 million) and accepting bribes totaling 9.4 billion won on Thursday, as well as the 17-year sentence.
Lee is also subject to a 13 billion won fine and must lose assets of 5.7 billion won.
“There was no legal fallacy in the appeals court’s ruling on bribery and embezzlement,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.
Lee’s conservative successor, Park Geun-hye, is currently serving 20 years in prison for bribery and abuse of power after being ousted in 2017 by a corruption scandal that sparked massive street protests.
Another former leader, liberal Roh Moo-hyun, took his own life after being questioned in a corruption investigation involving his family, an investigation that took place during Lee’s presidency.
Roh was the political mentor to current President Moon Jae-in, who served in the Blue House during Roh’s presidency, including a year as chief of staff.
