Sameeksha Dubey
Samsung Electronics Co.’s Jay Y. Lee was prosecuted on the request of South Korean prosecutors seeking to put the heir-apparent back in jail in a bribery case.
The case rocked the nation and invited an outrage against its most powerful empire. The case was filed in Seoul High Court where the special prosecutor proposed the sentence during a Wednesday hearing which will make its ruling on the billionaire’s fate on Jan 18.
According to a transcript of a closing argument from the prosecutor, “there is no denying that it has made a lot of positive impact on our society… but just because there has been an economic contribution there should be no hesitation based on the rule of law.”
The retrial of the case against Lee started 4 years ago and led to his imprisonment and the ouster of the former President Park Geun-hye.
The succession at Samsung is expected to get complicated by the outcome of the case just as Lee is expected to formally take the helm of the mobile and electronics giant after the death of his father in October.
Lee served a year in jail before his release in 2018 after an initial five-year prison term was halved and suspended by an appeals court which was later voided by the Supreme Court. Lee faced a tougher sentence this time – a minimum of 5 years because the amount of alleged bribery acknowledged by the top court increased.
The billionaire said on Wednesday in his remark before the court that “even though it is tough and difficult, I’ll walk on the right path. I promise that I will create a company with the highest level of transparency and morality. I’ll make sure again, my children will not be mentioned in the relation to the succession of the company. Samsung will never get into a controversy over these related matters.”
Prosecutors accused Lee in September, and hearings are set to resume on Jan 14.