The de facto chief of South Korea’s Samsung business empire was yesterday convicted over a huge corruption scandal and jailed for two-and-a-half years, in a ruling that deprives the tech giant of its top decisionmaker.
Jay Y. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s biggest smartphone and memorychip maker, was found guilty of bribery and embezzlement in connection with the scandal that brought down former South Korean president Park Geun-hye.
Lee “actively provided bribes and implicitly asked the president to use her power to help his smooth succession” at the head of the sprawling conglomerate, the Seoul Central District Court said in its verdict.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It is very unfortunate that Samsung, the country’s top company and proud global innovator, is repeatedly involved in crimes whenever there is a change in political power,” it said.
It concluded a retrial that was the latest step in a long-running legal process that has hung over Samsung for years.
The multibillionaire Lee — who had earlier walked into court grim-faced and wearing a mask, without responding to reporters’ shouted questions — was immediately taken into custody.
He has effectively been at the head of the Samsung Group for several years after his father was left bedridden by a heart attack, finally dying in October.
“This is essentially a case where the freedom and property rights of a company were violated by the former president’s abuse of power,” Lee’s lawyer, Lee In-jae, told reporters.
“Given the nature of the matter, I find the court’s ruling regrettable,” he said.
Experts say the sentence would create a leadership vacuum that could hamper Samsung’s decisionmaking on large-scale investments.
“It’s really a huge blow and a big crisis for Samsung,” said Kim Dae-jong, a business professor at Sejong University.
Samsung Electronics, the group’s flagship subsidiary, declined to comment on the ruling.
“Considering Samsung’s share of the [South] Korean economy and its status as a global company, the ruling is feared to have a negative impact on the overall [South] Korean economy,” the Federation of Korean Industries said in a statement.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS