A South Korean appeals court on Monday has suspended Samsung's Heir Jay Y. Lee's jail term after a year’s detention over the corruption scandal that brought down the former president. The 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. Jay Y. Lee was in detention since last February and the President Park Geun-hye was dismissed in March 2016 in a case that brought scrutiny to the nature of the ties between South Korea’s chaebols - big family-owned corporate groups - and its political leaders. However, Park, denied wrongdoing and is currently standing trial accused of bribery, abuse of power and coercion. Back in August, a lower court had convicted Lee for bribing Park to strengthen his control of Samsung Electronics. The court back in the day said that Samsung’s financial support for entities backed by a friend of Park‘s, Choi Soon-sil, constituted bribery, including 7.2 billion won ($6.4 million) to sponsor the equestrian career of Choi’s daughter. On Monday, the Presiding senior judge Cheong Hyung-sik called the nature of Lee’s involvement in Samsung’s monetary support for Choi a “passive ...
Monday, 5 February 2018
Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong released as South Korean court suspends his term
A South Korean appeals court on Monday has suspended Samsung's Heir Jay Y. Lee's jail term after a year’s detention over the corruption scandal that brought down the former president. The 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. Jay Y. Lee was in detention since last February and the President Park Geun-hye was dismissed in March 2016 in a case that brought scrutiny to the nature of the ties between South Korea’s chaebols - big family-owned corporate groups - and its political leaders. However, Park, denied wrongdoing and is currently standing trial accused of bribery, abuse of power and coercion. Back in August, a lower court had convicted Lee for bribing Park to strengthen his control of Samsung Electronics. The court back in the day said that Samsung’s financial support for entities backed by a friend of Park‘s, Choi Soon-sil, constituted bribery, including 7.2 billion won ($6.4 million) to sponsor the equestrian career of Choi’s daughter. On Monday, the Presiding senior judge Cheong Hyung-sik called the nature of Lee’s involvement in Samsung’s monetary support for Choi a “passive ...
