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Fri, Mar

Samsung Vice Chairman Bags Two And Half Years Jail Term For Corruption

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Lee Jae-Yong, the Executive Vice Chairman of the South Korean tech giant, Samsung, has bagged a two and half years jail term today over corruption charges, the ruling that would deprive him of his decision making power.

Jae-Yong a boss at Samsung, a world one of the biggest smartphone and chip producers was found guilty of bribery and embezzlement in connection to what hunted down president Guen-Hye his former boss.

According to Seoul Central District Court in its verdict, he was responsible for masterminding what appeared like a coup-de-et that send his boss parking through bribing his way to power to become the head of the conglomerate.

The statement reads, “It is very unfortunate that Samsung, the country’s top company and proud global innovator, is repeatedly involved in crimes whenever there is a change in political power.”

Lee has been finally been sent for two and a half years to jail bringing his long trial to an end that has long suspended work at Samsung for quite some time.

He has been in charge of the tech giant for some time now after his father was bedridden before he finally passed away last October from a heart attack.

His lawyer, Lee In-Jae told the court that his client abused the freedom and property rights of the company though said he regrets the ruling of the court.

Samsung, one of the family-controlled conglomerates with an overall turnover equivalent to the fifth of the nation's GDP in South Korea's economic scale.

Its rise has been attributed to the willingness of the company to invest in strategic bets on key technologies.

However, experts revealed the sentencing of Mr. Lee would hamper negatively on the decision making of the company on big investment in the meantime.

According to the report, Mr. Lee paid a huge of millions of dollars with the company’s finance to Park's secret confidante, Choi Soon-Sil, and also some government officials to pave his way to succeeds his then-ailing father.

His action painted his former boss in a bad light where she was accused of taking bribes from South Korean officials and some corporate bigwigs of the county for preferential treatment.

Lee was initially jailed for five years in 2017 after Park's removal.

Supreme Court freed him after an appeal of conviction where he was given a suspended sentence instead, and a retrial was ordered.

However, the Federation of Korean Industries said in a statement: “Considering Samsung’s share of the Korean economy and its status as a global company, the ruling is feared to have a negative impact on the overall Korean economy.”

 

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