President’s brother gets two years

Rep. Chung jailed in court for aiding in illegal campaign fundraising

Lee Sang-deuk

The Seoul Central District Court sentenced President Lee Myung-bak’s elder brother-cum-political mentor Lee Sang-deuk to two years in prison Thursday on charges of taking illegal political funds from businesses during the 2007 presidential race.

The court also ordered him to pay a fine of 750 million won.

The 78-year-old former National Assembly vice speaker and six-term lawmaker was indicted in July for taking 600 million won from two savings banks — 300 million won each from Solomon and Mirae which went under due to financial woes last year.

Chung Doo-un

He was also found to have taken 150 million won from Kolon Group, where he once served as chief executive. He has remained in custody since being arrested in July.

This is the first time that a brother of an incumbent president has been convicted of corruption. The prosecution earlier demanded a three-year jail term and a fine of 750 million won for Lee.

Lee’s lawyer suggested that he will appeal. “We are not satisfied with the ruling. We will discuss with Lee Friday to decide on whether to appeal,” the lawyer told reporters, asking not to be named.

The court also handed down a one-year jail sentence to Chung Doo-un, a three-term lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, for colluding with the elder Lee to attract illegal campaign funds from businessmen. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 140 million won. The lawmaker was put behind bars following the verdict.

Lee and Chung were among campaigners for Lee Myung-bak and played key roles in raising campaign funds. However, they became estranged months later after Chung openly denounced the elder Lee’s alleged abuse of power.

Both have denied the prosecution’s charges.

“We accepted claims from Solomon Chairman Lim Suk and Mirae Chairman Kim Chan-kyong that they provided money to Lee Sang-deuk,” judge Lee Won-beom said. “The money from Kolon Group is also deemed illegal.”

Following his brother’s indictment, President Lee apologized to the nation over a string of graft scandals involving his brother and his former aides. Public calls mounted at the time for prosecutors to investigate illegal campaign funds used by parties in 2007, but they failed to do so, and focused only on individual bribery cases.

Some opposition lawmakers have alleged that the money from Solomon and Mirae was part of hundreds of billions of won the elder Lee collected from businessmen to finance his brother’s campaign.

Solomon and Mirae were among several troubled lenders that bribed a number of politicians and government officials under the Lee administration to seek their influence in avoiding audits and crackdowns. <The Korea Times/Na Jeong-ju>