The Supreme Court has upheld a one-year prison sentence for a former ranking official at the country's financial regulator for improper hiring practices.

The top court said on Monday that it handed down the ruling for Lee Byung-sam, a former senior deputy governor at the Financial Supervisory Service(FSS), upholding a lower court's decision.

Lee was indicted on charges of obstruction of business and forgery. He is accused of fabricating the scores of certain candidates and hiring job applicants who failed to pass standardized recruitment tests in 2016. 

The former FSS official was given an eight-month sentence from a lower court, which convicted him on charges related to only one of the four illegal hirings which he was allegedly involved with.

A second trial convicted him of an additional illegal hiring, resulting in a one-year jail term, a verdict which the Supreme Court upheld.