UIJEONGBU, South Korea– The mother-in-law of Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), was sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday for forging a financial document used in a past deal for land purchase.
The district court in Uijeongbu, 23 kilometers north of Seoul, convicted the 74-year-old, surnamed Choi, of producing a fake bank account balance certificate and using it to purchase a swath of land in Seongnam, south of Seoul, from April 2013 to October of that year.
The forged document suggested she had deposited 34.7 billion won (US$29.2 million) into the account.
Prosecutors pressed charges against Choi for alleged document forgery, use of forged papers and violation of real-name property ownership laws.
Yoon declined to comment on the court’s ruling, saying it is not appropriate to talk publicly about the court’s decision.
Allegations surrounding Yoon’s wife and her family have served as liabilities for the former prosecutor general in terms of public approval.
Choi was also convicted in a separate case in July of establishing a medical foundation and opening a long-term care hospital for senior citizens in February 2013, despite having no medical qualifications. She was released on bail in September.
Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, has also come under fire for allegedly falsifying or embellishing her credentials on resumes she sent to two local universities in 2007 and 2013 to apply for a teaching position.
Kim, head of a cultural contents company, is also currently under investigation in connection with a stock manipulation case surrounding Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in South Korea.
Source: Yonhap News Agency