Ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye formally charged with bribery, leaking state secrets
Lotte chief Shin Dong-bin was also charged with bribery by the prosecutors.
South Korean prosecutors on Monday formally charged ousted President Park Geun-hye, and Shin Dong-bin, the chief of one of the country’s biggest conglomerates, Lotte, with bribery, reported Reuters. Lotte has become the second multinational organisation after Samsung to be implicated in the corruption scandal that has rocked the country for weeks and seen Geun-hye’s arrest on March 31.
Prosecutors said the charges against the former president include bribery, coercion, abuse of power and leaking state secrets, BBC reported. The 65-year-old Geun-hye was accused of colluding with her long-time friend and confidante, Choi Soon-sil, to extort money in the form of donations from South Korean companies. The money, which was transferred to non-profit foundations controlled by Soon-sil was allegedly used for personal gains. While Lee Jae-yong, the chief of Samsung, had been arrested for his involvement in the case, Lotte head Dong-bin was charged without being detained, the news agency added.
Geun-hye was formally removed from office on March 10 while she was impeached on December 9 by the South Korean Parliament. She then handed over responsibility for running the country to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.