The acquittal could free up Samsung’s top boss to make major decisions involving the world’s largest maker of consumer electronics and computer chips.
Samsung Executive Chairman Jay Y Lee, second from left, was considered to be held back in taking a more active role in the company from the trial. Image: Samsung
Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, also known as JY Lee, was acquitted of stock manipulation and accounting fraud by a South Korean court on Monday over a controversial merger of two company affiliates back in 2015.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that prosecutors failed to prove that the merger of two of Samsung’s affiliates, Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, back in 2015, was unlawful.
Prosecutors had claimed that the merger caused damage to shareholders and was done primarily to increase Lee’s control over the conglomerate, while the chairman’s lawyers argued there was no fraud involved and the merger was done to increase the value of both companies and part of normal business activity.
