Lee was sentenced in a Seoul court today on charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. He was also ordered to pay a 13bn on ($8.8m) fine.

He faced charges that he accepted around $10m in illegal funds from institutions such as Samsung – which denies having given the former president the money - and the country’s intelligence service.

The court also found Lee guilty of embezzlement of about 24.6bn won ($21.77m) from a private auto parts maker headed by his brother.

The former premier, who was in office from 2008 to 2013, claims the charges are politically motivated and has denied all wrongdoing.

He is the fourth former South Korean president to be jailed. His successor Park Guen-hye was imprisoned for her role in a separate corruption scandal, which also led to jail time for Samsung head Jay Lee.

Judge Chung Kye-sun said: “Such actions from the president, the head of state and the leader of the executive branch, can be severely condemned as it does not stop at violating the fairness and integrity of the presidential office but undermines trust in the entire public office.”