SEOUL • The billionaire head of South Korea’s Samsung Group, Lee Jae Yong, was sentenced to five years in jail for bribery yesterday in a watershed for the country’s decades-long economic order dominated by powerful, family-run conglomerates known as chaebols..
SEOUL • The billionaire head of South Korea’s Samsung Group, Lee Jae Yong, was sentenced to five years in jail for bribery yesterday in a watershed for the country’s decades-long economic order dominated by powerful, family-run conglomerates known as chaebols.
After a six-month trial over a scandal that brought down then President Park Geun Hye, a court ruled that Lee had paid bribes in anticipation of favours from Park. The court also found Lee guilty of hiding assets abroad, embezzlement and perjury.
Lee, the 49-year-old heir to one of the world’s biggest corporate empires, has been held since February on charges that he bribed Park to help secure control of a conglomerate that owns Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading smartphone- and chip-maker, with interests ranging from drugs and home appliances to insurance and hotels.
Lee, who emerged stony-faced from the Seoul court in a dark suit, but without a tie, and holding a document envelope, was escorted by Justice Ministry officials back to his detention centre.
„This case is a matter of Lee Jae Yong and Samsung Group executives, who had been steadily preparing for Lee’s succession… bribing the president, “ Seoul Central District Court judge Kim Jin Dong was quoted as saying by Reuters.
