The 69-year-old Shin was indicted in 2010 on charges of embezzling 1.56 billion won in consultancy fees between 2005 and 2009, inflicting a loss of 43.8 billion won on the company through the provision of illegal loans between 2006 and 2007 and pocketing 860 million won in bribes from three Korean-Japanese shareholders from 2008 to 2010.

A Seoul district court gave Shin a prison term of 18 months, suspended for two years, after finding him guilty of embezzlement and bribery.

But an appellate court commuted his sentence to a fine of 20 million won, saying Shin was not guilty of breach of trust and bribery. The Supreme Court endorsed the high court decision. (Yonhap)