By Kim Yoo-chul
With President Lee Myung-bak pardoning two former Samsung bosses, who were Lee Kun-hee's most trusted enforcers, one has to wonder what the country's largest conglomerate will offer in return as a gesture of appreciation.
Lee Hak-soo, Lee Kun-hee's long-time right-hand man, and Kim In-joo, another former senior executive of the group, were among the high-profile list of politicians and businessmen to be handed out the pardons.
It remains to be seen whether Samsung would give both an opportunity to redeem their reputations tarnished by corporate scandals involving the group’s founding family.
Lee Hak-soo formerly headed Samsung's strategic planning office during most of the 2000s, which was a management vehicle for Lee Kun-hee during his days as group chairman. Lee Hak-soo later resigned from the position in 2008, just before he was charged with tax evasion along with his boss and Kim.
Lee Hak-soo received a suspended prison sentence of five years for his role in a slush fund scandal that was exposed in detail by corporate lawyer-turned-whistleblower Kim Yong-chul.
After a two-year hiatus, Lee Kun-hee has returned to Samsung's management helm as chairman of Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of Samsung's corporate empire, after being pardoned by President Lee earlier this year.
Samsung sources are declining to talk in detail about the possibilities of Lee Hak-soo and Kim returning to have some roles in the group's management. The group is planning to reshuffle its top executive positions sometime during December.
In response to the pardons, there is also a possibility that the group may soon announce a lavish "social contribution" package, whether through charity spending or job-rich investments, to massage public sentiment.
"Right now, it's meaningless to talk about the possible roles that could be given to Lee Hak-soo and Kim In-joo," said a senior Samsung official.
Observers say that Lee Kun-hee's return to Samsung Electronics appears to have halted the group's efforts in past years to create more targeted business units and give each operation more autonomy.
Samsung was coy about the speculation that the recent presidential pardons will lead to a jolt in the group's budget for social contributions and activities.
"We will increase the spending if we need to, but this is totally a separate issue with the pardons," said a Samsung spokesman.
Aside of improving its charitable contributions and creating more jobs, Samsung is also expected to expand its funds for helping its parts suppliers and subcontractors, according to numerous sources, as the government in past months have been increasing the pressure on conglomerates to better support small- and medium-sized businesses.
Samsung last week announced that it will double its previously-targeted spending on microcredit loans to 60 billion won (about $51 million) for 2010.
"Samsung is considering such programs as a gesture of appreciation for the pardons. The word is that Lee Hak-soo and Kim In-joo only had their names on the pardon list at the last minute," said another industry source.
Samsung Electronics reaped more than 5 trillion won in operating profit during the April-June period ― thanks to the rising demand for memory chips and flat screen TVs.
Analysts say Samsung's combined operating profit for the whole of 2010 will reach 20 trillion won and the bullish trend will also continue to the end of next year.
The list of business executives to be pardoned on the Aug. 15 Liberation Day also includes Dongbu Group Chairman Kim Jun-ki and former Haitai Group Chairman Park Kun-bae, according to the Justice Ministry.