The leader of one of South Korea ’s largest cultlike churches stood trial on Monday accused of bribing the country’s former first lady with gifts including a designer handbag and a diamond necklace.
The arrest of leader Han Hak-ja in September rocked the Unification Church , which claims to have 10 million followers worldwide and controls a sprawling business empire.
The 82-year-old defendant, known to her followers as “holy mother”, also faces corruption charges over cash payments to a lawmaker linked to disgraced president Yoon Suk-yeol .
She attended Monday’s hearing in a wheelchair and wearing a white mask.
Han’s defence team denied that she had bribed former first lady Kim Keon-hee or that lawmaker, insisting the gifts were arranged by a former church official acting independently and without her knowledge, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Kwon Oh-seok, one of Han’s lawyers, said the church official had acted alone out of “political ambition”. The official is also on trial.
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