Samsung chief gets 5-year prison term for corruption


by Sherisse Pham @Sherisse
August 25, 2017: 8:13 AM ET



0:14

A South Korean court has found Lee Jae-yong, the de facto chief of the sprawling Samsung business empire, guilty of bribery and other corruption charges.
Lee, the billionaire son of Samsung's ailing chairman, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday, well short of the 12-year sentence prosecutors had sought.
The criminal conviction is a blow for Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker and South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerate whose businesses are estimated to account for around 15% of the country's entire economy.
The so-called "trial of the century" has gripped South Korea for months. It's part of a huge influence-peddling scandal that brought down the government of former President Park Geun-hye.



"The public is disappointed that this kind of large-scale crime caused by cozy relations between politics and business still happens -- it's not in the past but remains a reality," Judge Kim Jin-dong said in court. He also laid some of the blame on Park, saying the former president made "aggressive demands" of Samsung.
Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong Seoul Central District Court
Lee Jae-yong leaving the court Friday after his conviction.
Wearing a navy suit and holding a manila envelope, Lee remained seated and silent as the judge read out the verdict.
He was found guilty of bribing Park in exchange for government support for a merger that helped him tighten control over Samsung. The 49-year-old executive, who is also known as Jay Y. Lee, has been the de facto leader of Samsung since his ailing father was left incapacitated by a 2014 heart attack.
Related: Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 aims to rebuild consumer trust
The court also found Lee guilty of perjury, concealing criminal profits, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers said Friday they reject the court's decision and will appeal immediately.
Prosecutors presented Lee as a savvy tycoon who knew exactly what he was doing when Samsung paid tens of millions of dollars to entities linked to a confidante of Park in order to win government backing for the key merger.
The conviction caps a rocky 12 months for Samsung, beginning with the embarrassing fiasco over its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last fall.

This is a country that is really fighting corruption.

how many years for dangotẹ..... Make I no talk

Buhari should go and learn how to fight corruption in that country, but I wonder why the topic and the content are at loggerheads