Ex-president's brother indicted on bribery charges

SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors indicted an elder brother of former
President Roh Moo-hyun and several of his close acquaintances Monday over his
alleged involvement in a murky buyout deal of a securities firm in 2006.

Roh Gun-pyeong, arrested earlier this month, is expected to be put on trial on
charges of receiving 296 million won (US$227,000) for influencing the buyout of
an ailing securities firm by Nonghyup, a state-run conglomerate, the Supreme
Prosecutors' Office said in an interim investigation report.
Prosecutors are investigating how Nonghyup came to take over Sejong Securities
Co. in January 2006 despite its initial rejection of the purchase. They suspect
personal connections involving the elder Roh and Nonghyup's then-chief Chung
Dae-kun. Chung, currently serving sentence on another bribery case, was indicted
again.
Park Yeon-cha, a businessman and a former financial supporter of the former
president, was also indicted, prosecutors said, on suspicions of insider trading,
reaping 20 billion won when share prices of the brokerage firm jumped at the news
of a takeover.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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