The three were indicted for playing roles in Park's taking of between 50 million won ($46,000) and 200 million won every month from May 2013 to July 2016 -- a total of 3.5 billion won -- from the National Intelligence Service.

Prosecutors demanded they be imprisoned for four to five years.

The court ordered Ahn to pay a 27 million-won fine for spending part of the money for personal use.

But the court ruled that the National Intelligence Service fund they took cannot be seen as bribes, but a misappropriation of state funds by the NIS provided to the ex-president.

The three were considered so close to Park that they were dubbed in the media the "doorknob trio," a figure of speech implying they were holding the knob of the door leading to Park and that everything had to pass through them to reach her. (Yonhap)