South Korean prosecutors have demanded that former President Park Geun Hye be jailed for 30 years in connection with a bribery case that also dragged the top brass of Samsung Electronics.
Park was deposed in March 2017 through an impeachment process. Currently, he faces allegations of bribery, abuse of power and coercion of action.
Reuters reported Tuesday (27/2/2018), the prosecutor's demands were delivered about two weeks after Choi Soon Sil, Park's friend, was sentenced to 20 years in jail for taking bribes from South Korean conglomerates. Samsung and Lotte are two of them.
Prosecutors also asked for compensation of 118.5 billion won or about Rp1, 5 trillion. As for Park denied all allegations filed against him.
"Park puts the country in a crisis by allowing one person who has never been involved in the government to govern, and he and Choi are taking bribes worth billions of won, but still deny all their mistakes and hinder efforts to reveal the truth," prosecutors said.
Park's lawyer, Park Seung Gil, appealed to the panel of judges to grant pardons by considering Park's attempts during his presidency. According to him, Park has tried his best to lead the country day and night.
The Park trial begins in May 2017 and the final verdict is scheduled before April 2018.
Park still has supporters. During the trial, hundreds of supporters were outside the courthouse and shouting yells that Park was innocent.
The Seoul Central District Court has previously convicted the chairman of the Lotte Group, Shin Dong Bin, over the same case. He was sentenced to prison for 2 years and 6 months.
However, the Seoul High Court gave a conditional prison sentence to Samsung's heir, Jay Y. Lee, earlier this month. The ruling shocked a number of parties because Lee is expected to be imprisoned.