Ex-President, Samsung heir likely to face Supreme Court rulings soon

Former President Park Geun-hye is led into the Seoul Central District Court in this Oct. 13, 2017 photo. Park now faces a Supreme Court appeal hearing on the guilty verdict against her for influence-peddling and corruption. / Korea Times file

By Lee Suh-yoon

One year after the lower court sentenced her to jail for corruption and influence-peddling, former President Park Geun-hye faces a Supreme Court ruling on a prosecutorial appeal for a harsher sentence for her.

Park will hear the ruling alongside her confidante Choi Soon-sil and Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong. Both lodged appeals against their sentences after prosecutors also went after stronger punishment.

The three were involved in a massive scandal that exposed the corrupt ties between the top tiers of government and chaebols. The discovery of the scandal in the fall of 2016 set off waves of mass protests in the country and removed Park, an icon of the conservative bloc, from office.

The 13-member justice panel is likely to schedule the hearing as early as this month, according to legal experts.

The main point of contention is to what extent the funds Samsung gave to Choi Soon-sil's sports foundations can be considered as bribes targeting the ex-President.

Prosecutors claim Samsung provided a total of 43.3 billion won ($38 million) in funds for the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, the K-Sports Foundation and the equestrian training of Choi's daughter in Germany in order to gain Park's support for Lee's “third generation” succession to the leadership of the Samsung Group. One of its subsidiaries, Samsung Biologics, is currently under investigation for allegedly rigging its accounts book to bolster Lee's control of the group.

Lee, however, claimed the funds were “extorted” from Samsung. An appeals court accepted this account in February last year, recognizing only 3.6 billion won as bribes. Accordingly, Lee's five-year prison term was reduced to a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence, freeing him from jail less than a year after his arrest.

The recognized bribery sum in Lee's case is in stark contrast to the sum recognized in Choi and Park's cases later. Last August, the appeals court recognized 8.7 billion won as the total amount of bribes accepted from Samsung.

If the Supreme Court raises the recognized bribery sum in Lee's case to match the sum recognized in Choi and Park's case, Lee could face jail again as those found guilty in bribery cases totaling over 5 billion won are given a minimum of 5 years imprisonment.

In such a case, the Supreme Court will likely send the case back to the appeals court for a second review or give its own sentencing. The former is more likely.

To what extent the three horses Samsung provided to Choi's daughter for her equestrian activities also count as “bribes” is another conflicting point in Lee and Park's appeals rulings. The Supreme Court will have to decide whether the cost of horses themselves should be considered as the bribe sum or just the unpaid use enjoyed by Choi's daughter.