A Seoul appellate court has sentenced food and entertainment conglomerate CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun to 30 months’ jail for misappropriating company assets and evading taxes. The Seoul High Court also handed down a 25.2 billion won fine.
"(Lee has) heavy responsibility for the crime because, as the head of a conglomerate, he caused damage by evading large amounts of taxes as well as embezzling corporate funds and breaching duty in order to increase his personal assets," the court said.
Lee was charged with corporate crimes totaling 207.8 billion won in July 2013.
The first trial convicted Lee on these charges amounting to 134.2 billion won and handed him a four-year prison sentence. The appellate trial found Lee guilty of taking some 67.5 billion won and sentenced him to three years in prison.
But the Supreme Court in September said the exact amount Lee earned through the purchase of real estate in Japan could not be specified, and therefore that he could not be found guilty of breach of duty and sent the case back to the lower court.