The fact that former President Lee Myung-bak has been released on bail after being in jail for a year makes me wonder if judges are now more willing to go against the Moon administration dues its increasing unpopularity with the Korean public?:
Former President Lee Myung-bak leaves the Seoul Eastern Detention Center in eastern Seoul on March 6, 2019, following the court decision to grant the bail he requested in late January. (Yonhap)
Former President Lee Myung-bak was released on bail Wednesday after almost one year of detention on corruption charges. Lee, president from 2008-2013, was sentenced by a lower court in October to 15 years in prison on conviction of bribery and embezzlement. He appealed the decision. The Seoul High Court approved the bail request that Lee made on Jan. 29 on the grounds of deteriorating health and other reasons. For the 1 billion won (US$886,130) bail, the court ordered him to stay in his registered residence and meet or communicate only with his immediate family members and legal representatives. Lee accepted the conditions. Lee also requires court approval for hospital visits and must report his return to the court. Submission of logs on daily activities is also part of the requirements.
The Korean left has taken down another one of their boogeymen:
Former President Lee Myung-bak walks towards the Seoul Central District Court to attend his corruption trial on Sept. 6, 2018. (Yonhap)
A Seoul court sentenced former President Lee Myung-bak to 15 years in jail for corruption Friday, making him the fourth ex-South Korean leader to be criminally convicted.
In the live televised trial, the court found the 76-year-old former leader guilty of bribery, embezzlement and other charges. He was ordered to pay 13 billion won (US$11.5 million) in fines and forfeit 8.2 billion won.
Lee, president from 2008-2013, was arrested on March 22 and indicted on April 9. Prosecutors demanded 20 years in prison on 16 counts of charges. The court convicted him of seven charges.
The court ruled that he embezzled 2.46 billion won from DAS, an auto parts company at the center of the scandal. It concluded, on the basis of testimony by Lee’s close aides, that he is the de facto owner of the company, disguising it as his brother’s company.
Lee denied the allegation he was the real owner of the company.
The court also ruled he accepted 5.9 billion won in bribes from Samsung Electronics Co. in the form of retaining fees for DAS.
Samsung paid the money seeking a presidential pardon for Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was jailed for tax evasion, it said.
Lee was also found guilty of receiving about 2.4 billion won in bribes from a financial company chief, a former intelligence agency chief and a former lawmaker. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but President Lee says the charges brought against him were political retaliation for the corruption investigation brought against former President Roh Moo-hyun during President Lee’s time in office. Roh ended up committing suicide because of the investigation. The Chief of Staff for President Roh was current President Moon Jae-in.
I don’t know if the allegations against Lee are true or not, but what I do know is that the Korean left is happy to put him in jail, while at the same time championing Kim Jong-un, the dictator responsible for killing and injuring dozens of Korean citizens and being a general threat to regional peace. The Korean left even has Kim Jong-un’s image posted on the side of Seoul City Hall.
If Lee Myung-bak has been held responsible for his alleged crimes against Korea, then who is going to hold Kim Jong-un accountable for his crimes? Obviously it will not be the Korean left.
20 years is the sentence the Moon administration prosecutors are recommending that former President Lee Myung-bak be given if convicted of the corruption allegations against him:
Former President Lee Myung-bak enters the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul to attend his corruption trial on Sept. 6, 2018. (Yonhap)
Prosecutors on Thursday requested that a Seoul court sentence former President Lee Myung-bak to 20 years in prison for corruption and other charges.
The demand was delivered to the three-judge panel at the Seoul Central District Court in Lee’s trial that began in early May. Prosecutors also called for a 15 billion-won (US$13.4 million) fine and a forfeiture of 11.1 billion won for the disgraced ex-leader.
The court’s ruling is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Lee, president from 2008-2013, was indicted in April on 16 counts of corruption ranging from bribery, abuse of power and embezzlement to other irregularities. He has been under presentencing detention since his arrest in late March.
Lee’s charges center on long-held suspicions, which dogged him throughout most of his political career, that he is the real owner of an auto parts company named DAS and used his presidential powers to benefit the company as well as himself and his family.
Part of the bribes also includes $5.85 million in lawsuit expenses Samsung Electronics Co. allegedly paid on behalf of DAS.
The former Seoul mayor is also accused of taking about 11.1 billion won in bribes from the state intelligence agency and a former head of a state-run banking firm. Prosecutors suspect he embezzled about 35 billion won from DAS and used it for personal purposes. [Yonhap]
Here is Lee Myung-bak’s response to the charges:
In Thursday’s hearing, Lee vented anger over the charges and maintained his innocence.
“I cannot stand how the charges against me have caught me in the trap of such a stereotypical image that everything is linked to money,” he told the court. “It is so humiliating as a person who has lived his whole life loathing corruption and back-scratching and being so vigilant against such things.”
Lee again denied ownership of DAS and said he never accepted anything from a conglomerate or its chief, referring to Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee.
“I do not own a single share in DAS … and I feel saddened, beyond rage, that (they) prosecuted me for freeing Chairman Lee in exchange for the lawsuit fees,” he said.
“All I have is the house I live in.”
It has long been suspected that the charges brought against Lee were political retaliation for the corruption investigation brought against former President Roh Moo-hyun during President Lee’s time in office. Roh ended up committing suicide because of the investigation. The Chief of Staff for President Roh was current President Moon Jae-in:
His lawyer accused prosecutors of carrying out a far-fetched investigation and called for a wise judgment by the court.
The charges against Lee are punishable by up to life imprisonment.
The scandal tainted his long-established image of a self-made man who started off as a salaryman and rose to the top post at one of the country’s leading companies in only 11 years, before he entered politics in 1992.
Lee has insisted this trial is political retaliation by the office of President Moon Jae-in over the death of late President Roh Moo-hyun, Lee’s predecessor. Roh committed suicide in 2009 while under a prosecution investigation into a slew of corruption allegations.
Lee’s associates have claimed that Moon, a key Roh ally who served as Roh’s chief of staff, is trying to force the same humiliation back on Lee.
The 76-year-old is the fourth former president to face a criminal trial after ex-Presidents Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo and Park Geun-hye. Park is serving a 25-year jail term for corruption, pending a top court decision.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but considering the influence that the ruling party can have over the courts I fully expect that Lee will be convicted giving the Korean left the payback they have long demanded against former President Lee.
This file photo of former police chief Cho Hyun-oh was taken Aug. 3, 2015. (Yonhap)
Police said Tuesday they have summoned former National Police Agency chief Cho Hyun-oh as part of a probe into suspicions that he spearheaded massive cyberoperations for the conservative government of the early 2010s.
Cho was ordered to appear for questioning at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. He served as the commissioner-general from 2010-12.
The 63-year-old is accused of abusing his power and instructing the agency to launch online maneuvers aimed at swaying public opinion in favor of the Lee Myung-bak government and his policies.
The police agency’s cybercommand allegedly had its own officers to write more than 40,000 Internet comments supporting the government. The cyberteam is also accused of ferreting out those who posted any negative comments about the Lee government. [Yonhap]
It will be interesting to see if the Moon administration is able to get this guy locked up while their own people who did the same thing during the last election go free.
Former President Lee Myung-bak is helped out of a prison vehicle as he arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on July 20, 2018, to stand trial on corruption charges, including allegations that he accepted 11 billion won (around US$9.69 million) in bribes while in office. (Yonhap)
Former President Lee Myung-bak enters the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on June 15, 2018, to attend a hearing in his trial on alleged corruption. (Yonhap)
This image shows a post that former President Lee Myung-bak uploaded to his Facebook account right after the prosecution announced his indictment over a string of corruption charges, including bribery, abuse of power and embezzlement, on April 9, 2018. (Yonhap)
It was only a matter of time, but with the Park Geun-hye trial and sentencing out of the way, the Moon administration can next focus on Lee Myung-bak:
Former President Lee Myung-bak was indicted on bribery, embezzlement and other charges Monday, becoming the latest South Korean leader arrested or entangled in scandals at the close of their terms or after leaving office.
Lee’s indictment came three days after his successor Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison for a separate corruption scandal.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement that it charged Lee with taking a total of 11 billion won ($10 million) in bribes from the country’s spy agency, Samsung and others. [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but he is likely going to jail as well. Remember that Korea is not a rule of law society, but instead a rule by law. This means those in power have enormous influence over legal proceedings. The Korean left has long wanted to take down Lee Myung-bak because of the corruption investigation he initiated on former left wing President Roh Moo-hyun. Roh ended up committing suicide after his corruption came to light under the investigation led by the Lee administration.
The Korean left is likely rejoicing today with the news that they have finally gotten payback on former President Lee Myung-Bak for uncovering the corruption of former President Roh Moo-hyun:
Former President Lee Myung-bak was taken into custody by prosecutors after a local court issued a warrant Thursday night to detain him as a suspect in a criminal investigation over corruption allegations.
Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, became the fourth former president to be detained on corruption charges.
He faces at least 18 charges for receiving bribes from businessmen and politicians, misappropriating secret operations funds from the country’s main spy agency and generating slush funds using a company registered under his family’s name.
After the Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant around 11:05 p.m. on Thursday, prosecutors went to his home in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul, and transported Lee to the Seoul Dongbu Detention Center in Munjeong-dong, southern Seoul.
Earlier in the day, Judge Park Beom-seok reviewed the prosecution’s application for a detention warrant, which was submitted on Monday. Judge Park made the decision after reviewing documents from prosecutors and Lee’s lawyers. A hearing was not held because Lee refused to attend.
Prosecutors questioned the former president on March 14 and asked the court to issue a detention warrant for further investigation because they believed there was a high possibility of evidence destruction. Lee, they argued, might try to persuade witnesses to change their testimony. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but this could also be payback for the prison term that former Prime Minister during the Roh administration, Han Myeong-sook received for corruption. This is just another example that politics in South Korea is a zero sum game.
If half of the corruption allegations against former President Lee Myung-bak are true, then it looks like he may be in some serious trouble:
Lee Myung-bak
Troubled shipbuilder Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering was the source of bribes former President Lee Myung-bak allegedly accepted from a banker, sources from the prosecution said Friday.
Lee, who was in office from 2008 to 2013, is being investigated over various corruption accusations. Of the 20 charges he is facing, one is an allegation that he had accepted a total of 2.25 billion won ($2.12 million) from Lee Pal-sung, then-chairman of Woori Financial Group, from 2007 until 2011. The banker allegedly paid the money to keep his job during Lee’s presidency.
According to prosecution sources, a memo was found in Lee Pal-sung’s home during a raid last month. It detailed his payments to Lee’s family, including the former president’s son-in-law.
The money came from Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, which was in serious financial trouble at the time, the prosecution sources said. The midsize shipbuilder was established in 2003 but its financial situation deteriorated in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial meltdown. Up to now, the firm received 9.3 trillion won in bailouts, but has not been turned around. The government decided earlier this month to let the company file for court receivership.
Lawyers of the former president said Friday that Lee told the prosecution during questioning earlier this week that he had no knowledge of the bribery.
The JoongAng Ilbo reported Friday that the prosecution has secured testimony from a former CEO of auto component maker DAS that former President Lee accepted large amounts of secret funds from the company for years.
According to sources from the legal community, the prosecution suspects that Lee had took about 3.5 billion won from DAS. The auto parts maker is technically owned by Lee’s elder brother, but prosecutors believe that Lee is the actual owner. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
