A former South Korean police chief was sentenced to 10 months in jail Wednesday for defaming late former president Roh Moo-hyun.

The Seoul Central District Court convicted Cho Hyun-oh, who formerly led the National Police Agency, of posthumously defaming the ex-president by claiming he kept a slush fund in bank accounts under borrowed names.

Cho, 57, made such claims in 2010 during a meeting with police officials, prompting Roh's former aides to sue him. His allegations were dismissed as false at the court, which immediately imprisoned the former police commissioner.

Roh committed a suicide in 2009 amid what his supporters called a politically motivated corruption probe allegedly implicating his family.