Park Geun-Hye, former President of South Korea, may add another eight years. She has already been sentenced to 24 years in prison.
South Korea court sentenced former President Park Geun-Hye to eight years in prison after she was found guilty on charges of withdrawing funds from the state spy Agency and interfering in parliamentary elections in 2016, Aljazeera reports.
Seoul Central district court ruled that Pak, which has already received a 24-year prison sentence on separate corruption charges, colluded with its former aides to cause a $ 3.3 billion ($2.91 million) worth of public funds embezzlement from the National intelligence service (LDC).
“The defendant received 3 billion won for three years from the three leaders of the LDCs. Because of this crime, the accused has made a significant waste to the state Treasury”, – said senior judge Song Chan-Ho In the Central district court of Seoul.
Three former executives of LDCs reported that they spent money Pak in its order.
The judge rebuked Park, who denied the charges, for “refusing to cooperate” throughout the trial and questioning by prosecutors.
Previously, prosecutors had demanded 15 years for PAC.
The ex-President denied the offense and was not present in court. She was found guilty in the first instance court in April on separate charges, including bribery, abuse of power and coercion. She was also fined $ 16 million.
Now she faces 32 years in prison. The Seoul Supreme court will rule on the case on August 24.
Park became the third former South Korean leader to stand trial for corruption. In December 2016, South Korean lawmakers overwhelmingly voted for Park’s impeachment, but she refused to resign, offering instead an apology, denying legal violations. Three months later, the constitutional court of eight voted unanimously to remove her from office.
She was accused and arrested shortly after her dismissal from office in 2017.