SOUTH KOREAN PROSECUTORS SOUGHT A 12-YEAR JAIL FOR SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS VICE CHAIRMAN JAY Y. LEE’S IN A CORRUPTION CASE
File Photo : SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS VICE CHAIRMAN JAY Y. LEE |
South Korean prosecutors sought a 12-year jail term on Wednesday for
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee, in a corruption case that led to
the ouster of the nation’s president earlier this year.
They made their demand in the Seoul High Court which is hearing an
appeal by Lee against a five-year jail term handed out to him in August by a
lower court in the case that has gripped the country.
The 49-year-old billionaire heir to South Korea’s Samsung Group was
convicted by the lower court of bribing the country’s former president Park
Geun-hye. Besides Lee, who has been in detention since February, four former
Samsung executives were also charged in the case.
The lower court had ruled the bribe helped Lee strengthen his control
of Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel in the country’s biggest conglomerate
and one of the world’s top technology firms.
“The defendants say they are concerned about the future of Samsung
Group. However, what they are really concerned about is Lee’s loss of control
and subsequent economic losses,” special prosecutor Park Young-soo told a
packed court of about 150 people.
File Photo : SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS VICE CHAIRMAN JAY Y. LEE |
Lee, in a dark suit and white shirt without a tie at the appeals
hearing, earlier on Wednesday denied the bribery charge and also denied recent
allegations by prosecutors that he had met Park one-on-one four times, instead
of the previously disclosed three times.
The Seoul High Court is expected to rule on the appeal in late January.
Whichever side loses could take the case to the Supreme Court, the final court
of appeal in South Korea.
The lower court had ruled in August that while Lee never asked for
Park’s help directly, the fact that a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates did
help cement Lee’s control over Samsung Electronics implied he was asking for
the president’s help to strengthen his control of the firm.
His lawyers have strongly challenged this logic since appeals hearings
began in October.
“The defendants have not once tried to solve issues by colluding with
political power and gaining its help. The special prosecution has severely
distorted the truth, and that distortion is reflected in the jail term they
sought,” said Lee In-jae, Lee’s lawyer, responding to the 12-year jail term
demand.
FALLOUT
The scandal played a big part in the downfall of former president Park,
who was dismissed in March after being impeached, and the case cast a critical
eye over the ties between South Korea’s chaebols - big family-owned corporate
groups - and its political leaders.
Faced with investor worries of a leadership vacuum as Lee remains
detained, Samsung Electronics appointed a new generation of top managers at its
three main businesses including semiconductors in October.
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