Prosecutors seek 12-year prison term for Samsung heir
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Lee Jae-yong enters the courtroom at the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Prosecutors are seeking a 12-year prison sentence for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on five charges, including offering bribes to former President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
Special counsel Park Young-soo demanded the prison sentence Wednesday during Lee’s appeal at the Seoul High Court, accusing Lee of giving a bribe of 29.8 billion won ($28 million) in return for receiving government support to ensure his control of Samsung Group.
“The defendants claim it was just part of Samsung’s philanthropic activities. But the same year the company bought Choi an expensive horse, it stopped donating to a charity group. This reflects their perception about corporate social responsibility,” the special counsel said. “The deal is a typical example of the collusion between politics and business.”
Park Young-soo said the former president and Lee had three private meetings at Cheong Wa Dae to make the deal.
At Lee’s final hearing before the verdict, the biggest controversy was whether the two met on Sept. 12, 2014, as the prosecution alleges. Lee admitted that he had met her twice ― on July 25, 2015, and Feb. 15, 2016, ― but denied the alleged meeting took place in 2014.
This is important because the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries ― a critical move for Lee to tighten his grip on group management ― was decided in May 2015 and completed two months later. According to the special counsel, the help from the National Pension Service (NPS), a key shareholder of the two Samsung units, was part of the deal.
However, without the 2014 meeting, it might be difficult to prove the link between Samsung’s donations to Choi’s cultural foundations and Park’s decision to pressure the NPS to vote for the merger.
If the two did not meet in 2014, as Lee claims, it is doubtful that the former president and the NPS had enough time to orchestrate everything for the deal before the merger.
Under the law, to prove bribery, prosecutors should be able to show that money was given for a specific favor.
Two former presidential aides ― Ahn Bong-geun and An Chong-bum ― claimed they saw Park and Lee having the 2014 meeting at the presidential office.
But Lee denied that accusation in strong terms.
“I did not meet her on Sept. 12, 2014,” Lee said. “That’s the truth unless I have dementia.”
Lee argued that he only accepted Park’s demands in fear of retaliation and didn’t expect any favors from her or the government in return.
The court is expected to deliver its verdict on Feb. 5, 2018.