SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's judgment and cleared a former chief of the state-run Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) of breach-of-trust charges.

The final ruling cleared Jung Yun-joo of charges he caused nearly 190 billion won (US$164 million) in losses for the state broadcasting firm by withdrawing a tax-dispute suit that could have given the firm a massive tax refund.

Prosecutors indicted Jung in 2008, alleging that the dropping of the lawsuit against the tax agency in 2005 forced the state firm to accept a lower tax return than if KBS had won the suit.

After dropping the suit, Jung accepted a court's mediation ordering the tax authorities to pay only 55.6 billion won in tax refund.

Prosecutors had argued the former chief agreed to the court mediation possibly for quick cash earnings in order to make up for the firm's operational losses.

The indictment immediately led to KBS's dismissal of Jung, who was serving his second three-year term at the helm of the state-run broadcaster.

The top court upheld the lower courts' ruling that the charges against Jung were not verified.

Jung's dismissal, which came only months after conservative-leaning President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008, triggered strong protests from the liberal bloc and the media industry.

The former chief, who headed the state firm under the Lee's liberal-minded predecessor Roh Moo-hyun, filed a suit to overturn the dismissal. The case is pending a final decision by the Supreme Court following two lower courts' decision to nullify it.