South Korea’s top court yesterday ordered a new trial for Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee, who was convicted of offenses including bribery and embezzlement in connection with a scandal that brought down former South Korean president Park Geun-hye.
The de facto head of the world’s biggest smartphone and memorychip maker, Lee was jailed for five years in 2017, but freed a year later after an appeals court dismissed most of his bribery convictions and gave him a suspended sentence.
The South Korean Supreme Court yesterday set aside that decision and sent his case back for new proceedings.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The decision is a blow to the company, which is by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in the world’s 11th-largest economy and crucial to the country’s financial health.
It already faces a weak global chip market and fresh challenges from export restrictions imposed by Tokyo over key chipmaking chemicals amid a long-running dispute between the neighbors over wartime history.
Japan’s move threatens to disrupt memorychip production and Lee has called it a “crisis,” visiting Tokyo to seek to secure materials.
His court case centered on millions of dollars his firm paid to Park’s secret confidante, Choi Soon-sil, allegedly for government favors, such as ensuring a smooth succession for Lee to take over the leadership of the sprawling conglomerate from his ailing father.
South Korean Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su said that Lee’s case would be sent back for new proceedings to readdress multiple allegations, including bribery convictions that had been overturned by the appeals court.
That decision “misunderstood the law on bribery ... which is at fault for influencing the ruling,” Kim said.
In a key section of the ruling, the court said that three horses worth 3.4 billion won (US$2.8 million at the current exchange rate) that Samsung Group donated for the equestrian training of Choi’s daughter did amount to bribes.
Samsung Electronics, at which Lee is vice chairman, said in a statement that it “deeply regrets” causing concern.
“We will renew our commitment to carrying out the role of a responsible corporate citizen and will avoid a recurrence of past mistakes,” it said, without directly addressing the verdict or its possible consequences.
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