Prosecutors yesterday demanded a 30-year jail sentence for former South Korean president Park Geun-hye, who sacked over a wide-ranging corruption scandal that exposed shady links between big business and politics and prompted massive street protests.
The 66-year-old daughter of a former dictator was dismissed in March last year and has been in custody for nearly a year.
“We ask the court to hand down 30 years in prison and [a fine of] 118.5 billion won [US$110.2 million] for the accused, who must take ultimate responsibility for the scandal as the 18th president of this country,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Photo: AP
They said Park, in collusion with her secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-sil, took or was promised bribes totaling 59.2 billion won from Samsung, Lotte and SK in return for policy favors.
Park has also been charged with coercing 18 large firms to “donate” a total of 77.4 billion won to two dubious foundations controlled by Choi.
The Seoul Central District Court earlier this month found Choi guilty of abuse of power, bribery and interfering in government business and sentenced her to 20 years in prison.
The verdict and sentence was seen as a potential pointer to the decision in Park’s separate trial in the same court, because 15 of the 18 charges Choi faced mirror charges against the ex-president.
“The accused [Park] abused her power delegated by the people for private gain for Choi and herself ... violated core constitutional values on the protection of the market economy and free democracy,” the statement said.
“Consequently, the accused became the first president to be sacked through impeachment, leaving an indelible scar on the country’s constitutional history,” it added.
The prosecutors also rebuked Park for “allying with the chaebol instead of the people,” in reference to the nation’s family-controlled large conglomerates.
They also decried her attitude toward justice.
When allegations about Choi’s misdeeds started surfacing in news media, Park tried to mislead public opinion and denounced the reports as “political offensives,” prosecutors said.
Park since October last year has stopped attending the court, which she denounces as politically biased.
Some legal experts believe she is in an even worse position than Choi was, noting that the judge who sentenced Choi had denounced Park for having “delegated” presidential authority to a private individual.
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