Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was arrested midnight Friday after the court granted prosecution to press on with its probe on the retired president on multiple corruption counts under custody, citing gravity of the charges and concerns of destruction in evidence.

Lee, 77-year-old businessman-turned-politician who served as the president from 2008 to 2013, has become the fourth Korean elected president to become arrested and could face back-to-back criminal sentencing after his successor from the same party, Park Geun-hye whose first court ruling is due next month after imprisonment for nearly a year.

Lee, when convicted, may face graver punishment, given the list of charges against him. He is accused of squeezing out nearly 11 billion won ($10.2 million) from a number of institutions and individuals. The prosecution is also convinced that he is the real owner of DAS, an auto parts maker that he used as a channel to create slush funds worth 35 billion won.

Lee has denied the allegations and called the prosecutorial actions on him as “political vendetta” against him for the prosecution probe on his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun, who had been friend and boss to President Moon Jae-in, after he took office.

Upon hearing the court decision, Lee in his social media platform wrote that everything was his fault and he would go along with the arrest to ease the pains for the people he had worked with and his family. His wife is also accused of graft.

The pretrial detention is valid until April 11. The prosecution plans to build its case and hand it over to the court by then.

The Blue House in a statement said it was regrettable to see another retired president go behind the bars and reserved further comment.

By Song Gwang-sup and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]