Last Friday, Lee's conservative successor, Park Geun-hye, was sentenced to 24 years in prison in a separate corruption scandal for which she was removed from office following months of huge anti-government rallies.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said it charged Lee with taking a total of 11 billion won ($10 million) in bribes from the country's spy agency, Samsung and others.
The bribes include 700 million won ($636,000) from the National Intelligence Agency's official funds and $5.8 million in legal expenses that Samsung paid on behalf of his private auto parts company, DAS, a prosecutors' statement said.
It said Lee's government provided Samsung with special favors such as a 2009 pardon of its convicted chairman, Lee Kun-hee, in return for the bribes. Lee had been earlier fined and sentenced to a suspended three-year prison term in connection with losses at a Samsung affiliate and tax evasion.
Lee Myung-bak has also been charged with embezzling about 35 billion won ($33 million) in funds from DAS and evading corporate taxes totaling 3 billion won ($281,270), according to the prosecutors.
Most of Lee's alleged crimes took place while he served as president from 2008 to 2013 or when he was a leading conservative ruling party candidate before winning the 2007 election, prosecutors said.
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