A former defense ministry official has been sentenced to five years in jail for receiving bribes in connection with military facility construction projects, the Seoul Central District Court said Saturday.
The court handed down the hefty punishment to the former head of the Ministry of Defense's Defense Installations Agency, identified only as a 64-year-old Kim, after convicting him of pocketing 80 million won ($71,000) in bribes from a special door manufacturer in return for helping it be chosen as a subcontractor in two separate military construction projects in 2010.
Kim, a retired two-star general, was also ordered to pay 200 million won in fines and forfeit 80 million won in cash in addition to the jail sentence, the court said.
Kim is accused of helping the special door maker win a contract worth 5.7 billion won, in a military air base construction in Daegu, about 300 km southeast of Seoul, in April 2010, as well as another contract worth 3.5 billion won in a Joint Chief of Staff facility construction project in the same year.
He was paid the bribes on two occasions after retirement, according to the court document.(Yonhap)
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