Lee Myung-bak, a former South Korean president, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison... after he was found guilty of multiple corruption charges.<br />Cha Sang-mi reports. <br />A Seoul court has convicted former President Lee Myung-bak on seven charges, including bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.<br />The judge sentenced him on Friday to 15 years behind bars.<br />He also has to pay a fine of over 11 million U.S. dollars and forfeit more than 7 million dollars.<br />Prosecutors had asked for a 20-year sentence and a fine of over 13 million dollars.<br /><br />Seoul Central District Court ruled that Lee was the real owner of DAS, an auto parts maker that he claimed belonged to his brother, and which was used for embezzlement.<br /><br />The 76-year-old was also convicted of accepting some 13 million dollars in bribes from the nation's biggest companies and state agencies, including tech giant Samsung Electronics and the National Intelligence Service.<br />The court found Lee had received over five million dollars from Samsung in the form of legal fees on his behalf for a lawsuit in the U.S.<br />The verdict said the retainer was paid in exchange for a presidential pardon for Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was under investigation for tax evasion.<br />In her verdict, the judge said the defendant had embezzled some 22 million U.S. dollars as de-facto owner of DAS, and that he let down not just his supporters but the entire country.<br /><br />The verdict was broadcast live, but Lee wasn't there because of his poor health, according to his lawyers, and in protest against the decision to broadcast the verdict.<br />The sentencing comes nearly six months after the former president was indicted in April on 16 corruption charges.<br />Lee Myung-bak served as president from 2008 to 2013, and has been held in a detention center since March.<br />This makes Lee the fourth former South Korean president to be criminally convicted and imprisoned, after his successor Park Geun-hye, who is serving 25 years for a separate power abuse scandal that led to her ouster in early 2017.<br />Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News. <br />
