Samsung heir freed

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong walks into the Seoul High Court to hear the ruling on Monday. / Yonhap

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong returns to the prison bus a free man after the appellate court suspended his jail term, Monday. The Seoul High Court cleared him of major criminal charges, including bribery, overturning a lower court's five-year prison term. / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was released from prison, Monday, after an appellate court overturned a lower court ruling in a corruption trial stemming from the scandal that removed former President Park Geun-hye from office.

Seoul High Court Judge Cheong Hyung-sik reduced Lee's original five-year prison term that followed a bribery conviction to two-and-a-half years suspended for four years. Lee was released from custody 353 days after he was indicted for "offering" 43.3 billion won ($38.5 million) to Park and her longtime confidant Choi Soon-sil in return for political favors to help him consolidate control of the Samsung Group amid the deteriorating health of his bedridden father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

Cheong said Lee did not seek illicit favors to advance his interest as group leader in return for the money, nor did the firm under his direction have any reason to seek comprehensive favors from the former president, key charges a lower court recognized.

"The prosecution earlier claimed the firm had pressing matters that required government support with the ultimate objective of cementing Lee as the group leader; but no evidence exists to substantiate such a claim," he said.

While the company's restructuring moves including the merger of two group units _ Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries _ helped Lee better control the firm, a key charge recognized by the lower court, the company planned and implemented such plans to better streamline management, not for the sole purpose of reinforcing Lee's control of the group, he added.

"If the individual pressing matters (the merger) had been resolved successfully, there is little doubt that it would have helped Lee. But the company affiliates independently would have pursued this regardless of the impact it would have on Lee. Also, the degree to which he would have benefited following the merger is widely disputable, which is considerable grounds to drop the charges of responsibility and accountability."

Lee gave money to support Choi's daughter Chung Yoo-ra only after a second one-on-one meeting with Park, during which he claimed he was blasted for not "following her request," which the court said was an indication that he was under severe pressure to promptly act on her demands.

The court recognized only the 3.6 billion won he paid to support Chung as a bribe, reducing the amount by nearly half from the 7.3 billion won the lower court recognized as a bribe. Chung is a former equestrian competitor who stayed in Germany.

It acquitted him on charges of hiding assets overseas, saying he wired the funds to support Chung in Germany, not for personal use. "In order for Lee to be punished under the said crime, he should have had clear intent to use the money for personal expenses, for which this court has found no related evidence."

Cheong said Park and Choi conspired to commit extortion, while suggesting Lee only passively complied with the former president's demands. "The lower court determined this was corruption between politics and business at the highest level, but no slush fund was raised to benefit a few high-ranking figures, a typical aspect exhibited in prior cases."

This, he added, was rather a case in which Park, the most powerful figure in the country, strong-armed the country's largest conglomerate and Choi, the closest confidant to Park, sought personal benefit based on the distorted affection towards her daughter. Lee, in the process, became embroiled in what later developed in to full-blown bribery as he was unable to refuse the demands sought by the two.

"The key culprit in the influence-peddling scandal is Park who was derelict in her duty and abused the power vested in her by the Constitution and the people, and allowed a private individual Choi to benefit from this."

Cheong said there was no evidence to suggest that Lee or the firm's key executives sought undue favors or personal benefit in return for the financial support provided to Chung, nor did they ask for specific favors concerning the group merger. However, he added that the case fundamentally betrayed the expectations required of business groups to uphold and maintain fairness and social responsibility.

"Due to this influence-peddling scandal, the public is left to fundamentally question the principle of fairness and business ethics."

Four former Samsung executives including Choi Gee-sung and Jang Choong-ki, who worked at the now-disbanded Future Strategy Office, the group's de facto control tower, were also released after having their prison terms suspended.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong returns to the prison bus smiling after the appellate court suspended his jail term, Monday. The Seoul High Court cleared him of major criminal charges, including bribery, overturning a lower court's five-year prison term. / Yonhap