( LEAD ) Prosecutors demand prison terms for three closest aides to ex - President Park ( ATTN : UPDATES with details ) SEOUL , May 21 ( Yonhap ) -- Prosecutors on Monday demanded prison terms ranging from four to five years for three former top aides to ousted President Park Geun - hye on charges of involvement in illicitly taking funds from the state intelligence agency and passing them to Park . The three -- Lee Jae - man , Ahn Bong - geun and Jeong Ho - seong -- were indicted for playing roles in Park ' s taking of between 50 million won ( US $ 46 , 000 ) and 200 million won every month from the National Intelligence Service from May 2013 until July 2016 . On Monday , prosecutors demanded a five - year prison term and a fine of 1 . 8 billion won for both Lee and Ahn , and a four - year term and a fine of 200 million won for Jeong . Prosecutors also demanded a forfeiture of 13 . 5 million won from Ahn because he personally took the money from the spy agency . " This case is about giving and taking NIS budget funds , raised with taxpayer money , for private purposes , " the prosecution said while demanding the sentences . " Forgetting their original duties of assisting the president , the defendants mediated illegal transactions between the president and the NIS for private purposes . " 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 . The court plans to hand down sentences for the three on June 21 . This file photo shows Lee Jae - man , Ahn Bong - geun and Jeong Ho - seong ( from left ) . ( Yonhap ) ( END )