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Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee likely returned to jail after a South Korean court found him guilty of bribery for his role in a massive corruption scandal.
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The Seoul High Court on Monday sentenced Lee – the 52-year-old vice president of Samsung Electronics – to two and a half years in prison on Monday, finding him guilty of bribing former Korean President Park Geun-hye to win the government support for a 2015 merger of two Samsung subsidiaries.
The verdict follows a long-awaited retrial of Lee, who served 11 months of his original five-year prison sentence before an appeals court suspended his sentence and allowed him to be released in 2018.
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The time Lee has already spent behind bars will count towards the new two-and-a-half-year sentence, which means he will be locked up for about a year and a half once he returns to prison.
Lee could appeal Monday’s conviction to the Korean Supreme Court – which ordered his retrial in 2019 – but legal experts told Reuters the court is unlikely to change its legal interpretation because it has already weighed once on the case.
Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee likely returned to jail after a South Korean court found him guilty of bribery for his role in a massive corruption scandal. (AFP PHOTO / POOL / Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)
Samsung Electronics’ Korean-listed stock price fell 3.4% to 85,000 won ($ 76.90) after Monday’s sentencing.
A key part of the deal was Lee’s offer of 8.6 billion won (approximately $ 7.8 million) in bribes to then-President Park and his friend Choi Soon-sil. . The scandal sparked massive protests in South Korea and led to the ousting of Park, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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In delivering the conviction for bribery, embezzlement and concealment of criminal proceeds, presiding judge Jeong Jun-yeong noted that Lee is open to improving compliance at Samsung and is committed to “creating a transparent society.” .
“Despite some shortcomings… I hope that over time it will be assessed as a milestone in the history of Korean companies as a start for compliance and ethics,” the judge said.
Lee did not comment when the judge gave him the opportunity to speak, but his lawyer called the court’s decision “regrettable.”
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“This case concerns the abuse of power by the former president violating business freedom and property rights,” lawyer Lee In-jae told reporters.
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