A Seoul court yesterday sentenced the founder and former chairman of collapsed conglomerate Daewoo to 10 years in prison for a range of charges including embezzlement and accounting fraud.
The Seoul Central District Court said it also ordered Kim Woo-choong, 69, to forfeit more than 21 trillion won (US$22 billion) and pay a fine of 10 million won.
The former tycoon was arrested and indicted in June last year after returning from overseas where he had lived in exile for six years in a bid to escape from justice.
Kim was indicted on charges of multi-trillion won accounting fraud, illegal financing and diverting funds out of the country. He was also accused of embezzlement and breach of trust.
His doctors said he was too ill to face trial and two months after his return he underwent coronary bypass surgery and had follow-up procedures in January this year.
Daewoo was one of the largest conglomerates in South Korea until it collapsed under massive debts in the wake of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
Kim fled the country in 1999, living mostly in France until returning to South Korea last June to face charges.
"A severe sentence was unavoidable since [Kim] was engaged in activities that were not in line with business ethics, leading to Daewoo Group's bankruptcy," the court said in the ruling, according to Yonhap news agency.
Experts said prosecutors who asked for a 15-year jail term, could have sought a life sentence but were considering Kim's poor health.
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