Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee was found not guilty in the Chiel Industries and Samsung C&T merger case. The Seoul High Court upheld the lower court's decision and cleared Lee of all the charges that the opposition claimed.
Samsung's Jay Y. Lee cleared of accounting fraud and stock manipulation charges related to 2015 merger case
The de-facto boss of Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-yong, has received a huge relief, as he has been cleared of all charges related to the merger of Chiel Industries and Samsung C&T. A lower court had already found Lee not guilty of accounting fraud and stock manipulation chargers.
Lee can now get relief from all the criminal cases he has been facing since 2017. In 2015, Samsung Group's subsidiary Chiel Industries acquired another subsidiary, Samsung C&T. That merger gave Lee a strong hold over Samsung Electronics and, thereby, Samsung Group.
A couple of years after the merger was completed, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of South Korea accused Lee of accounting fraud, bribery, embezzlement, and stock manipulation. It was claimed that Lee bribed South Korean President Park Geun-hye's close associate and close friend, Choi Soon-sil, to force a government-controlled agency to support the merger, leading to losses for stockholders.
Lee was found guilty of some of those charges, and the Seoul Central District Court sentenced him to five years in prison instead of the 12-year sentence the prosecutors had sought. However, the Seoul High Court reduced his prison sentence to 2.5 years and released him after a one-year detention.
Then, the Supreme Court of South Korea sent the case back to the Seoul High Court for a retrial. Lee was then sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. In August 2022, Lee received a pardon from South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, citing Samsung's importance to the South Korean economy.
In October 2022, Lee became the Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Earlier, he was the company's Vice Chairman since December 2012.
This story is developing…
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