Samsung heir Lee receives 2 1/2 years in prison for bribery, returns to prison

All News 14:36 January 18, 2021

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Monday sentenced Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong to 2 1/2 years in prison in a retrial of a bribery case involving former President Park Geun-hye and ordered him returned to prison.

The Seoul High Court gave Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., the prison term for bribing Park and her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, to win government support for a smooth father-to-son transfer of managerial power at Samsung. Park was later impeached and ousted from presidency for corruption and abuse of power.

Lee, who was present at the hearing, was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was handed down, less than three years after he was released on a suspended sentence.

The 52-year-old Lee was charged in February 2017 with giving 29.8 billion won (US$27.4 million) worth of bribes and promising to give more.

In 2017, he was sentenced to five years in prison for providing a total of 8.9 billion won in support for Choi's daughter's equestrian training and a donation to a sports foundation run by Choi's family. But he was freed the following year after an appeals court sentenced him to a suspended prison term of 2 1/2 years, based on the revised amount of bribes at 3.6 billion won.

In August 2019, the top court ruled Lee offered 8.6 billion won in total in bribes and remanded the case to the appeals court for retrial.

The verdict on Monday dashed hope held by his supporters and other corporate leaders who have asked the court for leniency toward the Samsung scion, citing his role in helping overcome the economic difficulties brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

It was, however, widely welcomed by anti-corruption activists who have demanded the judiciary show a strong willingness to tackle the cozy relations between the industry and political elite, often blamed for the country's poor corporate governance.