Former South Korean President, Park Geun-hye was on Friday sentenced to 24 years in Jail by a South Korean court over allegations of bribery and corruption as well as abuse of power.
According to Al Jazeera, the disgraced former president was found guilty of several corruption charges, abuse of power and coercion in a verdict issued on Friday. She was also fined $16m.
During the trial, it was alleged that Park, 66, colluded with a friend, Choi Soon-Sil and a former presidential aide, in pressuring big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives. She was also charged for soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favours.
Park was acquitted in at least two of the charges, including abuse of power relating to forcing the Hyundai car company to run ads for the company owned by Choi.
The sentencing phase of the trial is under way.
South Korean state news agency Yonhap reported that Park did not appear in the sentencing trial. She has been in prison for more than a year, but has refused to appear in court for most of her hearings.
Recall that in December 2016, the former South African leader was impeached by legislators but she refused to resign offering instead an apology. She insisted that she had not committed any illegality. Eight months after, she was unanimously removed from office by the constitutional court.
