▲ Kim Yong, a former deputy head of the main opposition Democratic Party, attends a court ruling on Nov. 30, 2023, at the Seoul Central District Court. (Yonhap)

ex-DP official-court

Close aide of opposition leader Lee sentenced to 5-yr jail term in development corruption scandal

SEOUL, Nov. 30 (Yonhap) -- A close aide to opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was sentenced to a five-year prison term on Thursday on bribery and illegal political fund charges connected to a high-profile development corruption scandal.

Kim Yong, a former deputy head of the main opposition Democratic Party's Institute for Democracy think tank, was indicted in November on charges of receiving illegal political funds in 2021 from a real estate developer at the center of the corruption-ridden project to build apartment complexes in the Daejang-dong district of Seongnam, south of Seoul.

He was also charged with pocketing 190 million won (US$147,115) in bribes from 2013-14 from Yoo Dong-gyu, a former senior official at Seongnam's city development corporation, in return for business favors related to the project.

The Seoul Central District Court found Kim partly guilty of the charges, acknowledging illegal political funds worth 600 million won and bribes of 70 million won.

Prosecutors had demanded a 12-year prison term for Kim.

Kim was immediately taken into custody at the courtroom after the five-year prison sentence, with the court expressing concerns about the potential destruction of evidence.

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