The court judged Jang’s dismissal was unfair considering that he was acquitted of bribery and embezzlement in both first and second trials.

Jang was accused of receiving a total of 289 million won worth of bribes from a towboat maker, which he had been president of, between July 2013 and April 2015 while he was heading Kogas.

In the previous sessions, the court found Jang had received incentives and retirement allowances that he deserved from the boat company, which it judged unrelated to his post at Kogas. But the court did impose a 20 million won fine on Jang for providing a total of 35 million won worth of golfing time to former Kogas executives in the second trial.

Jang had tendered his resignation after being put on trial, but the former Park government didn’t accept his resignation, dismissing him instead.

Under guidelines for operations of public institutions, executives of those organizations should not be suspended or dismissed before the court rules them guilty.

Jang filed the suit claiming that his dismissal based on suspicions was unfair.

By Song Su-hyun (song@koreaheraldcorp.com)