Court set to review graft scandal of Ex-South Korean president

Seoul: A Seoul court is set to review its ruling over former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in March 2017 in a bribery case.

The former South Korean president was handed a prison term of 25 years along with a fine of 20 billion South Korean won after she was found guilty of crimes ranging from bribery to coercion and abuse of power, Yonhap news agency reported.

The court is going to start the retrial on Wednesday, after the country’s top court ordered for review in the case, citing procedural issues.

Park, South Korea’s first female leader, was charged for forcing big conglomerates, including Samsung, to donate 77.4 billion won to two foundations under the former’s control.

She also became the first president to be impeached when she was evicted from office and was arrested on corruption charges.

In December 2016, Park was impeached by the National Assembly after the scam was unearthed. Subsequently, a Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment, thereby removing her from power in March 2017.