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This case is a retrial of a previous case.
A South Korean court has sentenced Samsung heir Lee Jae Young to two years and six months in prison over a corruption scandal.
The decision came as part of a retrial of an earlier case involving the country’s former president, Park Geun-hee, who was also jailed for bribery and bribery.
Lee has been Samsung’s de facto president since 2014.
The move is likely to have implications for his future role within the tech giant.
News of the move caused Samsung shares to fall more than 4% before they partially started to recover.
And my prison sentence would prevent me, at least temporarily, from making the decision in the company.
Experts say the move could create a leadership vacuum and hamper Samsung’s decision to invest on a large scale in the future.
“This is really a big blow and a big crisis for Samsung,” Kim Dae-jung, business professor at Sejung University, told AFP.
Lee took charge of the company when his father, Lee Kun-hee, was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack in 2014.
Elder Lee passed away last year, suggesting there will be a change at Samsung as his heirs may have to sell some assets or some of the profits to cover the hefty estate tax bill .
“Often involved in crimes”
According to the court ruling, Lee “actively bribed and tacitly asked the president to use his power to help his father succeed” as head of Samsung.
“It is extremely unfortunate that Samsung, the country’s leading company and a proud global innovator, is repeatedly involved in crimes whenever there is a change in political power,” the ruling reads.
Li was found guilty by a court of bribery, embezzlement and concealment of illegal proceeds worth approximately 8.6 billion won, or $ 7.8 million. He said the independent compliance committee that Samsung set up early last year was no longer effective.
Li’s defense team expressed disappointment with the decision.
Lee’s attorney, Lee In Jae, told reporters, “The nature of this case is the abuse of power by the former president, in violation of corporate freedom and property rights. nature, the court’s decision is regrettable. ”
Lee has already served a prison sentence, which should count as part of the sentence, leaving him with 18 months to spend in jail.
Second trial battle
Lee ran into legal trouble even as he was on the verge of becoming a leader of a global tech giant. He was first arrested in February 2017 for his alleged role in a political scandal and his dealings with companies linked to then South Korean President Park Gun-hye.
Samsung has been accused of paying 43 billion won, or $ 37.7 million, to two nonprofits in exchange for political backing, which reportedly includes support for the controversial Samsung merger, which opened. the way for Lee to become the last president of big business.
The agreement required support from the government-run National Pension Fund.
The charges included corruption, embezzlement, concealment of assets abroad and perjury. Lee denies all of these accusations, saying Samsung didn’t want anything in return.
However, in August 2017, a court found him guilty of the charges against him and sentenced him to five years in prison.
In February 2018, the sentence was halved and the Seoul High Court decided to suspend the prison sentence, meaning he is free.
But the South Korean Supreme Court referred the case to the Seoul Supreme Court, which issued its final decision on Monday.
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