Roh`s brother given jail term for bribery

A Seoul court yesterday gave former President Roh Moo-hyun`s elder brother a four-year jail sentence and a fine of 570 million won ($449,810) for bribery.

Roh Gun-pyeong, 67, was indicted last December on bribery charges in connection with the 2006 purchase of a faltering securities firm by the state-run agricultural cooperative.



"It is legally unacceptable that he used his special position as brother of the incumbent president," said Lee Gyu-jin, presiding judge at the Seoul Central District Court in his ruling.

"He also received massive amounts of money and the securities firm was then in turn bought out (by the cooperative), although we cannot confirm how much influence his lobbying had on the sale of the securities firm."

The elder Roh was alleged to have collaborated with the former president`s close associates between 2005 and 2006 to influence the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation to take over the now-defunct Sejong Securities Co. in January 2006.

In February 2006, the elder Roh purportedly received about 2.96 billion won from Hong Gi-ok, the then-largest shareholder of Sejong, with Jeong Hwa-sam, the former president`s high school friend, and Jeong`s brother Gwang-yong.

Late last month, prosecutors demanded a five-year jail sentence for the former president`s brother.

The court gave Jeong Hwa-sam a suspended sentence of three years in jail and a fine of 565 million won. Jeong Gwang-yong was given a three-year jail term with a fine of 1.19 billion won.

By Song Sang-ho



(sshluck@heraldm.com)