The nation’s top court on Friday upheld a five-year jail term for a ruling party lawmaker for taking bribes from a railway parts supplier in exchange for business favors.
The Supreme Court found Rep. Cho Hyun-ryong of the ruling Saenuri Party guilty of taking 160 million won ($146,000) from the head of Sampyo E&C between December 2011 and July 2014 in exchange for awarding the private company contracts.
The 70-year-old lawmaker was also ordered to pay a fine of 60 million won and forfeit an additional 160 million won.
Cho was stripped of his parliamentary seat as the sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court, lowering the number of seats held by the ruling party in the 300-member parliament to 157.
Earlier this month, two lawmakers, Song Kwang-ho of the ruling Saenuri and Kim Jae-yun of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy were stripped of their parliamentary seats for separate bribery convictions. (Yonhap)
