A local court on Friday handed down a suspended sentence to a former Doosan chairman who gave kickbacks to a former presidential secretary in return for business favors for the university he led.

The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Park Yong-sung to a 10-month jail term for giving some 100 million won (US$86,500) in bribes to Park Bum-hoon, a former senior presidential secretary for education and culture under the Lee Myung-bak administration. The court suspended the execution of the sentence for two years.

The 75-year-old business tycoon was indicted in May for giving bribes to Park from July 2012 to January 2013 in exchange for resolving some key problems the university faced.

He led the foundation of Chung-Ang University from 2008 until he resigned from the post in April after suspicions mounted over the bribery case.

Park Bum-hoon, who headed the university from 2005-2011, was also convicted and received a three-year jail term for peddling his influence on the Ministry of Education to give favors to the school.

The court also ordered the 67-year-old former presidential secretary to pay a fine of 30 million won and forfeit another 37 million won.

(Yonhap)