SEOUL, July 10 (UPI) -- Lee Sang-deuk, former South Korean lawmaker and older brother of President Lee Myung-bak, was arrested Wednesday on bribery charges, authorities said.
The latest development comes as President Lee is already under political pressure as he serves his remaining months in office.
The elder Lee was jailed after a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for him, Yonhap News Agency reported. He was accused of allegedly taking about $525,000 from heads of two troubled savings banks from 2007 and 2011 in return for helping them avoid regulatory audits, the news agency said.
"I'm sorry," Lee, a six-term lawmaker representing the Grand National Party now called Saenuri Party, told reporters when asked what he would tell the president, Yonhap reported. President Lee's single five-year term ends in February and by law he cannot seek re-election.
Yonhap said as the elder Lee entered the court he was greeted with eggs from several irate people who had lost their bank deposits.
He is also accused of taking bribes from his former employer and a textile manufacturer.
President Lee is already confronted with foreign policy and domestic policy problems, The New York Times reported.
The report said the accused bankers in the case have been charged with embezzlement and bribery, and their banks' operations have been suspended.
The report said the elder Lee did not reply when reporters asked him if he used the alleged bribes during his brother's election campaign in 2007.
There was no immediate reaction from the president's office.
"The brother's arrest is the most symbolic sign yet of President Lee having become a lame duck," Seoul National University political science Professor Kang Won-taek told the Times.
