He will become the fourth former leader to stand trial in South Korea's modern history.
Ex-president Lee Myung-bak was indicted on Monday on a slew of corruption charges.
The development means his trial is on course to start next month.
The ruling? That could come before the year is out.
Park Ji-won with more.
Prosecutors have indicted former Korean President Lee Myung-bak... on charges mainly of bribery and embezzlement.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office says the 76-year-old was indicted Monday on 16 charges,... including accepting bribes worth over 10 million U.S. dollars, tax evasion... and wrongful exercise of authority.
The largest portion of the alleged bribes came from Samsung Electronics,... which is said to have paid over five-point-eight million dollars in U.S. litigation fees on behalf of an auto parts company called DAS,... whose acutal owner, prosecutors say, is Lee Myung-bak.
The ex-president is also accused of receiving over 6-hundred thousand U.S. dollars from the nation's intelligence agency from April 2008 to September 2011,... which was during his term in office.
He's also accused of embezzling over 32 million dollars through the DAS auto parts company over a period of 16 years,... from 1991 to 2007.
And he's accused of leaking over three-thousand confidential state documents.
More charges could be brought... as prosecutors continue to investigate.
The prosecution is seeking to freeze assets of Lee's linked to the bribery case,... and they plan to indict his wife, son and other members of his family allegedly involved in the case... once they have enough evidence.
The former president has so far flatly denied most of the charges.
Lee Myung-bak served five years as president until February 2013,... and will be South Korea's fourth former leader to be put on trial for corruption,... following Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo and Park Geun-hye.
Park Ji-won, Arirang News.
