Pay-off case not over yet

The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling in the bribery case against the governor of Gyeonggi province. The court sent the case back to the Seoul High Court, which had found the governor not guilty of the charge in 2000, for a second hearing.

Governor Lim Chang-yuel was arrested in 1999 for allegedly accepting 100 million won ($77,000) from a provincial bank in exchange for stopping the government from shutting it down a year earlier.

The governor used the money to help pay for his campaign for the governorship in June 1998. Mr. Lim insisted at the time that the money from Gyeonggi Bank was purely a campaign contribution.

He was sentenced to a year in prison and 2 years of probation in addition to a 100 million won fine at the first trial in October 1999.

But last April during an appeal he was found not guilty after the prosecution refused the high court's request to change the charge against him to a violation of political funding laws.

The high court reasoned that the bank was not in danger of being shut down when Mr. Lim allegedly received the money from a bank official, and therefore the bribery charge was difficult to prove.

But the Supreme Court said that claim made no sense, noting that the bank was negotiating with the government at the time to prevent its closure. The court said since Mr. Lim met with the president of the bank and accepted the money from him at such a crucial moment the bribery charge deserves a hearing.

The court added that it is clear Mr. Lim was aware that the money was given in exchange for introducing a Gyeonggi Bank executive to a high-ranking member of the Financial Supervisory Commission.

Even if Mr. Lim is re-elected in the regional election in June if he is given a prison sentence in the final verdict he will lose his position as governor.

by Park Jai- hyun