▲ Yoon Suk Yeol and Myeong Tae-gyun
The first-instance verdict for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted on charges of receiving free opinion polls from political broker Myeong Tae-gyun, will be delivered today (July 13).
The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 33 (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-kwan) will hold the sentencing hearing for former President Yoon and Myeong at 2:00 p.m. today.
Former President Yoon is accused of conspiring with his wife, Kim Keon-hee, to receive 58 opinion polls worth approximately 270 million won in total from Myeong between April 2021 and March 2022 without payment.
Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki's team concluded that former President Yoon promised Myeong the nomination of former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun in exchange for the opinion polls.
Myeong has been charged with donating illegal political funds by providing the opinion polls free of charge.
Previously, the special prosecutor's team separately indicted Kim Keon-hee on charges of conspiring with the former president to receive the polls from Myeong; however, she was acquitted of those charges in both the first and second trials.
The court reasoned that because Myeong provided opinion polls to various other people in addition to the couple, it could not be concluded that the couple had gained property benefits equivalent to the cost of the polls.
During the final hearing for the former president's case on May 12, the special prosecutor's team demanded a four-year prison sentence and a forfeiture of 137.2 million won, stating, "He used his position to receive a massive amount of opinion polls and substantially intervened in party nominations in return, undermining party democracy."
For Myeong, the prosecution requested a three-year prison sentence, arguing that "the nature of the crime is poor as he repeatedly committed acts that directly affected the presidential election over a long period."
Former President Yoon's side has denied the charges, claiming that he never requested opinion polls from Myeong nor promised any compensation.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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