Former president Roh's brother gets prison term for bribery

SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- Former President Roh Moo-hyun's elder brother was sentenced to a four-year jail term on Thursday for receiving billions of won in return for peddling influence in the buyout of an ailing brokerage firm by a state-run company in 2006.

The Seoul Central District Court also ordered Roh Gun-pyeong to forfeit 570
million won (US$449,000). Prosecutors had demanded a five-year sentence and a
forfeit of 690 million won.
The elder Roh was indicted last December along with two accomplices for accepting
nearly 3 billion won in bribes to arrange the acquisition of Sejong Securities by
the state-run National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, better known as
Nonghyup.
Nonghyup bought Sejong at a below-market price of 110 billion won in January 2006.
The conviction comes as former President Roh himself faces prosecution on
suspicion of bribery involving a scandal-ridden business executive. Investigators
suspect Roh received tens of billions of won in bribes from Park Yeon-cha, head
of shoemaker Taekwang Industry.
Park is also entangled in Roh Gun-pyeong's case, as he was reportedly informed of
the takeover beforehand and bought Sejong shares half a year before the takeover
was sealed.
Roh's brother, Park and Chung Dae-kun, Nonghyup's chief at that time, are all
hometown acquaintances, and investigators suspect they created the takeover
scenario for mutual benefit.