Moon accused of appointing former lawmaker to nonprofit in change for hiring of his then son-in-law.
South Korea’s former President Moon Jae-in has been indicted on bribery expenses, prosecutors have stated.
Moon, who led South Korea from 2017 to 2022 beneath the banner of the centre-left Democratic Occasion, is alleged to have appointed a former lawmaker to a government-funded nonprofit company in change for his then son-in-law being employed at a Thailand-based airline, Jeonju District Prosecutors’ Workplace stated in a press release on Thursday.
Prosecutors allege that Moon appointed Lee Sang-jik to steer the SMEs and Startups Company in return for his ex-son-in-law, surnamed Web optimization, being appointed govt director at Thai Eastar Jet, which was managed by Lee on the time.
They allege that some 223 million received ($151,959) in wage and different advantages offered to Web optimization constituted a bribe to Moon.
The Democratic Occasion condemned the indictment as politically motivated and an abuse of prosecutorial energy.
“So the wage paid to the son-in-law was a bribe to the president? Is that this one of the best logic they might provide you with after dragging the case out for 4 lengthy years?” spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee stated in a press release.
Moon’s indictment provides him to a protracted record of former South Korean presidents who’ve discovered themselves in bother with the legislation.
Moon’s successor, impeached ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol, is currently on trial on insurrection charges over his short-lived declaration of martial legislation final yr.
4 different ex-South Korean leaders, together with Moon’s quick predecessors Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, have been given jail phrases.
Moon’s political mentor, former President Roh Moo-hyun, took his personal life in 2009 whereas beneath investigation for bribery.
Whereas in workplace, Moon, a former human rights lawyer, pushed to broaden social welfare and championed rapprochement with North Korea.
South Korea is about to carry a presidential election on June 3 to switch Yoon, whose impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Courtroom of Korea earlier this month.
