Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison today for allegedly offering bribes and was detained in court. South Korea’s financial sector is concerned that if Lee Jae-yong is jailed and no one at Samsung Electronics is in charge, it may have a negative impact on the overall economy of the country.
The Seoul High Court sentenced Lee Jae-yong to 2 years and 6 months in prison without probation for allegedly bribing former President Park Geun-hye and his close friend Choi Soon-sil (later renamed Choi Seo-won).
The defense lawyer of Lee Jae-yong was interviewed after the verdict, claiming that the case is due to the former president’s abuse of power, infringement of freedom of enterprise and property rights, and expressed regret at the verdict; the prosecution, which originally sought a 9-year sentence, argued that the judgment on the innocence of the bribery case had in fact come to fruition when Park Geun-hye was convicted, and both sides have not yet decided whether to appeal again.
It is worth noting that the Yonhap News Agency pointed out that during Lee Jae-yong’s previous detention, Samsung Electronics shares were still on the rise, but Samsung Electronics shares fell 2.05% at 2 p.m. today, and fell to 4.43% after the verdict was announced, and finally closed with a 3.41% drop.
The National Federation of Korean Economists (FKI) issued a statement in the afternoon supporting that Lee Jae-yong was supporting the Korean economy by investing heavily and creating jobs during the economic crisis caused by the 2019 coronavirus disease (Chinese Communist Virus, COVID-19, New Coronavirus Pneumonia) epidemic, and expressed considerable regret over today’s verdict.
The statement pointed out that, considering the proportion of Samsung in the Korean economy as a whole, as well as its position in the global enterprise, there is concern that the impact of the verdict on Samsung’s operations may go beyond individual enterprises and have a negative impact on the Korean economy as a whole.
Lee Jae-yong was indicted in 2017 for allegedly offering bribes, and was convicted in the first instance of offering bribes amounting to 8.9 billion won and sentenced to 5 years in prison; the court of second instance only found Lee guilty of providing about 3.6 billion won in the name of the Samsung Jockey Club off-site training fees that did not exist in substance, and commuted the sentence to 2.5 years in prison and 4 years of probation.
However, the Supreme Court objected to Lee Jae-yong’s provision of Choi Soon-sil’s daughter’s horse purchase fees and donations to the Korea Winter Sports Center of Excellence totaling more than 5 billion won, and remanded for a new trial, both of which were found guilty in today’s verdict, with the total amount of bribes paid reaching 8.68 billion won.
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