The Supreme Court upheld a lower court's acquittal of former vice justice minister Kim Hak-ui over bribery charges in a retrial.

The top court exonerated Kim on Thursday after he was indicted in 2019 for accepting some 43 million won in bribes from a businessman between 2000 and 2011.

Although Kim was found not guilty in the first trial, an appellate court sentenced him to two-and-a-half years while ordering him to pay five million won in fines.

In June of last year, the top court sent the case back for retrial, stating that the businessman, identified by his surname Choi, gave a different testimony in court compared to what he had told prosecutors.

Seven months later, the Seoul High Court found Kim not guilty of the bribery charges, while dropping other charges for which the ten-year statute of limitations had expired.

Kim, who took office as vice justice minister in 2013, stepped down in less than a week amid the bribery scandal.

The case drew extensive media coverage after a video was leaked showing a group of men, including one believed to be Kim, having a sex party with dozens of women in a remote villa owned by construction contractor Yoon Jung-cheon, who was later imprisoned on charges of fraud.

Kim had been cleared of receiving bribes and sexual favors from Yoon between 2006 and 2008 due to lack of evidence and the expiration of the statute of limitations.