Ex-PM Han cleared of bribery charges

By Kim Rahn

Former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook was cleared of taking bribes at an appellate court hearing Friday.

The Seoul High Court upheld a lower court not-guilty ruling on charges that she took money from a businessman in exchange for influence peddling. She was cleared of other charges of accepting illegal political funds last October.

Han was indicted in 2009 on charges of receiving $50,000 from former Korea Express CEO Kwak Young-wook in December 2006 when she was prime minister after a luncheon at her residence, in exchange for helping him gain the top post at a state-run company.

In April 2010, the lower court cleared the 68-year-old, saying Kwak’s testimony lacked credibility as he kept changing his story. In the appellate hearings, the prosecution sought five years imprisonment and a $50,000 fine.

“It seems unlikely that Kwak could hand her money at the luncheon in the residence as the prosecution claim. The only direct evidence was Kwak’s testimony, but it was inconsistent,” the court said in its ruling. “We find the lower court ruling, that the testimony lacked credibility, was reasonable.”

After the ruling, Han said, “I’m glad that truth and justice have prevailed.”

She has claimed the prosecution’s indictment was aimed to negatively influence her reputation ahead of the Seoul mayoral election in 2010. “I hope I’ll be the last victim of such a targeted investigation,” she said.

The hearing for Han’s appeal was suspended until a verdict was announced last October on a separate case in which she was charged with taking illegal political funds.

In that trial, Han was suspected of having accepted some 900 million won from Han Man-ho, former president of the now-bankrupt Hansin Construction, in 2007 ahead of the opposition Democratic Party’s primaries for the presidential election. She was acquitted and the prosecution appealed.