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FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2017, file photo, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left, arrives to attend a hearing on the extension of her detention at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea's top court on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, sent back Park's corruption case to a lower court for separate trials for her previously convicted charges, a ruling that could increase her already-lengthy prison term.AP/PTI[/caption]
Seoul, Aug. 29 (IANS): The South Korean Supreme Court on Thursday overturned part of an appeals court ruling that had convicted the country's first female President for corruption crimes.
The justices sent the case back to the appellate Seoul High Court - which had confirmed a 25-year prison sentence for ex-president Park Geun-hye (in office between 2013-16) on a litany of corruption charges - citing procedural issues, Efe news reported.
The top court also returned the related case of Samsung Group's de facto chief, Lee Jae-yong, who had received a suspended sentence of two-and-a-half years in jail for bribing officials in exchange for government favours.
Lee now faces additional charges, as the Supreme Court ruled that he paid more in bribes than had been initially estimated.
Park was impeached in December 2016 after being accused of influence peddling involving her close personal aide, Choi Soon-sil, and arrested on March 30, 2017.
On April 6, 2018, she was declared guilty of 16 of the 18 charges she faced over her role in the so-called "Rasputin" scandal (in reference to the moniker Choi was given by local media), including corruption, bribery and abuse of power, and sentenced to 24 years' imprisonment.
The Seoul High Court increased that sentence by an additional year a few months later during the appeal.
The court found that Park and Choi extorted millions of dollars from major South Korean companies - including electronics giant Samsung - while promising favourable treatment.
Choi was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2018 and ordered to pay a multi-million-dollar fine.
Park is the daughter of the late military dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled over the country between 1961 (when he grabbed power after leading a coup d'etat) and his assassination in 1979.
She is also the third former South Korean head of state to have been jailed, after Gen. Chun Doo-hwan (1979-88) and Gen. Roh Tae-woo (1988-93).
