Brother of late President Roh indicted on bribery, embezzlement charges

The elder brother of former President Roh Moo-hyun was indicted Friday on bribery and embezzlement charges after allegedly pocketing billions of won (millions of U.S. dollars) from three separate projects while the late president was in office, prosecutors said.

Roh Geon-pyeong, 70, was indicted on one count of bribery and two counts of embezzlement, according to the prosecutors' office in Changwon, about 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Roh is accused of taking 1.35 billion won ($1.14 million) in shares from a land development firm in 2007 in exchange for helping it win a license to reclaim more than 170,000 square meters of land in the southern port city of Tongyeong, according to Lee Joon-myung, a prosecutor at the Changwon prosecutors' office.

Roh is also suspected of partnering with a 55-year-old businessman surnamed Lee to pocket 1.38 billion won from the January 2006 purchase and sale of land on which they built a factory, the prosecutor told reporters during a press briefing.

In February 2006, the two men allegedly deposited 90 million won for Roh's personal use into a bank account belonging to a relative of Roh, after Lee increased his company's capital by 100 million won.

Lee, the prosecutor, however, reversed his earlier allegations that Roh could be linked to a separate bank account holding tens of billions of won.

"It's true that (the account) was discovered while investigating Roh's case, but they are not related," he said.

Lee told reporters last week prosecutors suspected the account belonged to a person believed to be Roh's money manager.

Roh was convicted of taking bribes in a 2006 corporate takeover deal and served a prison term in 2010 before being released under a presidential pardon in August that year.

His brother, the former president, killed himself in 2009 amid a widening corruption probe involving his family. (Yonhap)