 |
| The heir of Samsung Group faces prison |
Lee, Samsung's heir and vice president of Samsung Electronics, was sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption that led to the ouster of former president (Park Guen-hye).
Prosecutors think this makes sense because Samsung is the largest family company in South Korea with strong power. The final decision will be made on January 18th.
And according to the Korean Herald report, they said during their last hearing on Wednesday: The Samsung Group is so strong that the Korean companies will be divided into Samsung and non-Samsung.
The plaintiffs have also called for two other former Samsung executives to be held for seven years.
The corruption case differs from another lawsuit involving the successor of the Samsung Group that involves suspected accounting fraud and stock price manipulation. A hearing on the case began in October.
The corruption case dates back to 2017, when the heir of Samsung Group was found guilty of bribing Korea's main partner, Choi Sun Suk, and sentenced to five years in prison.
Prosecutors alleged that the purpose of the corruption was to ensure that the government would support Lee Kuan Yew in the legacy of then-President Lee Kun-hee's control over the Samsung Group.
Illegal payments are a large part of the corruption scandal that led to Park's deportation, arrest, and 25-year imprisonment.
Lee was released in 2018 after an appeals court reduced his sentence to two and a half years. He's back in the actual chair of the Samsung group, which ran after his father had a heart attack in 2014.
In August 2019, the Supreme Court overturned the appeals court's decision, ruled that the decision was too lenient, and ordered a new trial at the Seoul High Court.
Lee Kun-hee, considered the richest man in South Korea, passed away in October.
His net worth is estimated at $ 20.7 billion, according to Fortune, and his successor could be liable for around $ 10 billion in property taxes under the country's tax system.