FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks during a ceremony of the 103rd anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement Day in Seoul, South Korea, March 1, 2022. Jeon Heon-Kyun/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean prosecutors indicted former president Moon Jae-in for alleged bribery on Thursday, making him the latest former leader of the country to face legal troubles in a case linked to the appointment of his then son-in-law at a Thai airline.
Moon, 72, was indicted for bribery, while in the same case former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik was indicted for bribery and breach of trust, Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office said in a statement.
Prosecutors had been investigating whether Lee's appointment as the head of the SMEs and Startups Agency was in exchange for Moon's former son-in-law getting a job and receiving a salary plus living expenses at the Thai-based corporation that Lee controlled in 2018-2020, the statement said.
The prosecution alleges that the money Moon's son-in-law received as an executive director totalling 5.95 million baht ($177,506), was irregular and constituted a bribe to the then-president.
Prosecutors referenced previous bribery cases involving former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, both of whom were convicted and jailed, as precedents for Moon's indictment.
Moon, Lee and their legal representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
Youn Kun-young, a lawmaker and a close aide to Moon, accused the prosecution in a Facebook post of setting Moon up through "ridiculous and groundless charges" without properly investigating him.
The liberal-leaning Moon, a lawyer and a civil rights activist, was president between 2017 and 2022.
Over the last two decades, a string of South Korean leaders have faced trials or scandals for the most part toward the end of their terms or after leaving office.
Moon's successor, Yoon Suk Yeol, was removed from office this month after being impeached over his short-lived imposition of martial law. The conservative former leader, who had denied wrongdoing, is now on trial on criminal charges of insurrection.
South Korea is holding a snap election to pick a new leader on June 3, with the liberal-leaning Lee Jae-myung from the same Democratic Party as Moon the frontrunner in opinion polls to win the race.
Lee's campaign called Moon's indictment political retribution by the prosecution and a crackdown on the previous administration.
($1 = 33.5200 baht)
(Reporting by Joyce Lee, Editing by Ed Davies and Saad Sayeed)
