Samsung heir, Lee Jae-jong, has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison due to bribery. The trial has been going on for a while now, and it has come to its end, reports SamMobile.
Samsung heir, Lee Jae-yong, sentenced to 2.5 years in prison
The company’s former President, Park Geun-hye, has also been a part of the trial. To give you some background info on the case. Samsung heir has been accused of bribing an associate of the company’s former President. The associate in question in Choi Soon-sil.
This bribe allowed Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T to merge, which allowed Lee Jae-yong to succeed his father and gain control over Samsung Electronics, says the source.
Now, it’s quite likely Samsung will appeal to this sentence. It will appeal to be judged by the Supreme Court, which won’t be the first time. The Supreme Court did make its position clear in the past, so chances are this is the final sentence.
Some of you probably know that this won’t be Lee Jae-jong’s first prison sentence. He has been imprisoned in the past, for over a year. He was released back in 2018, when he returned to his post.
The retrial began in October 2019
The Seoul High Court did take the case again, and the retrial began in October 2019. It lasted for over a year, well, for a year and a half, approximately, before the decision was made.
The 2.5-year sentence could have been much higher, actually. The prosecutors demanded a 9-year prison sentence for the Samsung heir. Lee Jae-jong did apologize last year, though, vowing to be the last leader in the company’s royal line. His grandfather, Lee Byung-chul, was the first.
Lee Jae-jong’s father and Samsung Chairman, Lee Kun-hee, died three months ago. Which left Lee Jae-yong with a huge wealth on his hands, a $21-billion-dollar wealth, to be accurate.
As already mentioned, Samsung will most certainly appeal this decision, but the chances are it’s final. Regardless, we’ll report back if relevant information pops up.