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Samsung
Group chief, Jay Y. Lee, leaves after attending a court hearing
to review a detention warrant request against him at the Seoul
Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea.
Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji
-
Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee is a free man after receiving a
suspended sentence. -
Seoul High Court sentenced Lee to 2 1/2 years on
charges including bribery and embezzlement. -
The case led to impeachment of President Park
Geun-hye.
(Reuters) – Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee
left a South Korean jail a free man on Monday after a panel of
judges suspended his sentence, a surprise decision that sent
shockwaves through the country’s political and business
establishments.
Coming just days before South Koreans gather to host the Winter
Olympics, the ruling reignited an intense public debate over
widespread corruption in a case that ousted President Park
Geun-hye from office last year and has ensnared leading members
of the family-run “chaebol” conglomerates.
Seoul High Court sentenced Lee to two and a half years in jail on
charges including bribery and embezzlement – reducing the
original term by half – but suspended the sentence for four
years, meaning that he is unlikely to serve any more time in
jail.
Lee, 49, heir to one of the world’s biggest corporate empires,
had been detained since last February.
Emerging from a Seoul detention center where he had briefly
returned for his belongings after the ruling, Lee stood in the
frigid February air and apologized for “not showing my best
side”.
“The past year has been a really valuable time of looking back on
myself,” Lee told reporters in a sometimes shaky voice.
He added he needed to visit his ailing
father, Samsung Group patriarch Lee
Kun-hee, who suffered a heart attack in 2014.
The elder Lee escaped a conviction for embezzlement and tax
evasion when he was pardoned by former President Lee Myung-bak,
viewed by some as a move to allow the elder Lee to lead the
campaign to secure the 2018 Winter Olympics for South Korea.
Coming days ahead of the Olympics in Pyeongchang, the decision to
free Jay Y. Lee presents a new headache for President Moon
Jae-in, who was elected last year on an anti-corruption platform
in the wake of Park’s impeachment.
“This may be a brave decision by the court to look at solid
evidence rather than public opinion. But this doesn’t quite fit
public opinion calling for Lee’s punishment,” Kim Kyung-soo, a
former prosecutor and a criminal lawyer, told Reuters
CORRUPTION CHARGES
Former President Park was dismissed in March after being
impeached in a case that brought scrutiny to the cozy ties
between South Korea’s political leaders and its largest chaebol,
the so-called “Republic of Samsung“.
Park, who denies wrongdoing, is standing trial accused of
bribery, abuse of power and coercion. Receiving bribes can carry
a sentence of life in jail.
One of the judges who suspended Lee’s sentence said Park had
pressured the corporate leader to sponsor equestrian sports,
which could have a bearing on Park’s verdict, legal experts said.
Partially agreeing with a lower court’s ruling in August, the
High Court convicted Lee of bribing Park by supporting the
equestrian career of the daughter of a friend of hers. He was
also convicted of embezzlement.
But the appeals court said Lee did not seek any help from Park.
It also said just 3.6 billion won ($3.31 million) was paid as a
bribe, not 7.2 billion as the lower court had said.
Presiding senior judge Cheong Hyung-sik also called the nature of
Lee’s involvement inSamsung‘s support for Park’s
friend “passive compliance to political power”.
“Park threatened Samsung Electronics
executives,” the judge said. “The defendant provided a bribe,
knowing it was bribery to support (the friend’s daughter), but
was unable to refuse.”
Prosecutors did not have an immediate comment. Lee’s lawyer, Lee
In-jae, said the defense will appeal to the Supreme Court to try
to overturn the convictions.
BUSINESS AS USUAL?
Lee, wearing a dark suit and white shirt and looking noticeably
worn, did not show any emotion when the ruling was announced.
With the end of his year-long detention, which according to local
media he adjusted to with physical workouts and reading books,
Lee can return to his multiple corporate roles, including as
director of flagship Samsung Electronics
<005930.KS>.
Shares in Samsung Electronics, of which
Lee is vice chairman, reversed earlier losses and closed up 0.5
percent, compared to a 1.3 percent fall in the wider market.
<.KS11>
Investors say Lee will face the daunting tasks of trying to find
the right direction for growth and making big investment
decisions, although Samsung Electronics,
the world’s biggest maker of semiconductors and smartphones,
performed well with Lee behind bars for the past year.
“Lee will have to decide which business to grow to
continue Samsung Electronics’ robust
growth, thanks to memory chips,” said Park Jung-hoon, fund
manager at HDC Asset Management that owns shares
in Samsung Electronics.
“Lee’s biggest goal for now is to show what is the next step
that Samsung Group will take, while
continuing its shareholder-friendly actions,” he added.
The cloud of controversy, however, may mean Lee will take a lower
profile, said Kim, the former prosecutor.
“Although he deserves the presumption of innocence, he will still
be tried at the Supreme Court, which could hurt the corporate
image if he is active as a vice chairman or a director
at Samsung,” Kim said.
($1 = 1,088 won)
(Reporting by Haejin Choi, Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park; Additional
reporting by Yuna Park and Dahee Kim; Editing by Nick Macfie and
Josh Smith)
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