Supreme Court finalizes 5-year prison term for lobbyist in high-profile development corruption scandal
Kim In-seob, a former campaign policy chief for the opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung while he was running for Seongnam mayor, attends a court hearing concerning a development corruption scandal, Seoul, Feb. 13. Yonhap
The Supreme Court on Thursday finalized a five-year prison term for a lobbyist in connection with a high-profile development corruption scandal linked to opposition leader Lee Jae-myung.
The top court handed down the sentence to Kim In-seob, a former campaign policy chief for Lee during his bid for Seongnam mayorship, along with an order to forfeit 6.35 billion won ($4.5 million).
The scandal centers on allegations that the municipal government of Seongnam gave special favors to a private developer in connection with an apartment construction project in the city's Baekhyeon-dong area in 2015-2016, when Lee was serving as the mayor.
Kim was indicted on charges of taking 7.7 billion won and other business rights from the property development firm in return for helping secure administrative favors from 2014 to 2023.
Prosecutors suspect Kim used his ties with Lee and his close aide, surnamed Jeong, to receive the money from the firm.
The district and appellate courts found Kim guilty of the charges and sentenced him to five years in prison, but Kim appealed the ruling.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, citing no errors in the legal understanding of the previous rulings. (Yonhap)