A Seoul court Thursday acquitted the former head of local telecom giant KT Corp. of embezzlement and malpractice in the management of the company.
  

The Seoul Central District Court found Lee Suk-chae not guilty of charges he caused financial losses worth some 10 billion won ($8.4 million) to KT, the country's top fixed-line operator and No. 2 mobile carrier, through a poor business decision before stepping down in November 2013.
  

Prosecutors alleged that the bureaucrat-turned-executive purchased shares of three companies, including local content firm KT OIC, above market prices between August 2011 and June 2013.
  

The court, however, said the 70-year-old did not seem to have had an intention to harm the company.
  

The court also acquitted him of charges that he created secret funds worth 2.75 billion won by inflating salary figures paid to company executives.
  

"While Lee did create some slush funds, they were used for the benefit of the company," Judge Yoo Nam-geun said.
  

Lee, a close aide to former President Lee Myung-bak, took the helm of the mobile carrier in 2009. He also served as a telecommunications minister in 1995 under the Kim Young-sam administration. (Yonhap)