Jail term of Samsung heir suspended
Jay Y. Lee walks free after a year’s detention amid a corruption scandal that brought down South Korea’s former president
ASouth Korean appeals court yesterday suspended a jail sentence handed down to Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee, setting him free after a year’s detention amid a corruption scandal that brought down the former president.
Seoul High Court jailed Lee for two and a half years, reducing the original term by half, and suspended the sentence for charges including bribery and embezzlement, meaning he does not have to serve time.
Lee, 49, heir to one of the world’s biggest corporate empires, had been detained since last February.
President Park Geun-hye was dismissed in March after being impeached in a case that brought scrutiny to the nature of the ties between South Korea’s chaebols — big familyowned corporate groups — and its political leaders.
Park, who denies wrongdoing, is standing trial accused of bribery, abuse of power and coercion.
A lower court in August convicted Lee for bribing Park for help in strengthening his control of Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of the country’s largest conglomerate and one of the world’s biggest technology companies, as well as embezzlement and other charges.
The court said Samsung’s financial support for entities backed by a friend of Park’s, Choi Soon-sil, constituted bribery, including 7.2 billion won (Dh23.5 million or $6.4 million) to sponsor the equestrian career of Choi’s daughter.
Presiding senior judge Cheong Hyung-sik yesterday called the nature of Lee’s involvement in Samsung’s monetary support for Choi a “passive compliance to political power”.