South Korean businessman gets five years in oil-for-food scandal

The judge called it a "harsh" sentence for a 71-year-old man in poor health but said it was reasonable and appropriate under the circumstances.

"You acted out of greed, acted to profit out of what was supposed to be a humanitarian program," the judge said.

Park said he didn't want to speak in court. His lawyer noted his client's age, poor health, and desire to get his life back on track.

Park's health issues include diabetes, high blood pressure, and a kidney transplant.

He was indicted in the 1970s in the Koreagate scandal, in which agents of the Korean government were accused of trying to buy influence in Congress, but the charges were dropped.

Just before the judge imposed the oil-for-food sentence, he noted that Park had signed a document Nov. 29 agreeing that his misconduct involved more than $2.5 million, that he would not appeal his sentence, and that he would be sentenced within a range of four years and nine months to five years, the maximum sentence allowed.

Federal prosecutors said at Park's trial in July that he was part of a corrupt group of bureaucrats and oil tycoons who enabled a humanitarian effort to be twisted into a corrupt venture benefiting them and Hussein.

Earlier yesterday, the judge rejected requests by Texas oilman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr.; Houston-based Bayoil (USA) Inc.'s sole shareholder, David B. Chalmers Jr.; and oil trader Ludmil Dionissiev to dismiss charges that they paid secret and illegal surcharges to Iraq to receive allocations of oil. Among the charges were wire fraud and conspiracy.

The three have pleaded not guilty and were freed on bail as they await trial.

Wyatt had claimed he was being prosecuted solely because he criticized US policies and actions toward, Iraq but had offered no credible evidence to support the theory, the judge said.

"Mere speculation that prosecutors were influenced by Wyatt's opposition to US foreign policy is not sufficient to show discriminatory purpose," the judge wrote.

Park was convicted despite the few links between him and Iraq after 1997, and even though the conspiracy was alleged to have stretched from 1992 to 2002.