Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who had been tried in the Gukjeong Nongdan case, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison at a farewell trial held on the 18th. Vice-Chairman Lee, who was tried in a state of disability, was arrested in court.
Destruction and return judgment, judging that the compliance system is insufficient
Lee Jae-yong’s “appeals after reviewing the judgment”
Jang Choong-ki and Choi Ji-seong were sentenced to 2 years and June in prison
– On the 18th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Jung Jun-young) admitted to bribery and embezzled Samsung Electronics company funds worth 8,680 million won to former President Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil (after renaming Choi Seo-won). Sentenced to months in prison.
Former Samsung Future Strategy Office President Jang Choong-ki and Choi Ji-Sung, former Samsung Electronics Future Strategy Office Chief, were also sentenced to two years and six months in prison. The judge pointed out that “the defendant (Vice-Chairman Lee) actively offered bribes in response to former President Park Geun-hye’s request for bribery, and made an implicit request to use the president’s authority for succession work.”
The sentence is one year and five months after the Supreme Court’s entire consensus broke the second trial in August 2019, which recognized only 3.6 billion won in bribery. It has been about four years since the special prosecution team of Park Young-soo indicted Vice-Chairman Lee in February 2017 for offering bribes along with a request for help in succession of management rights.
Lee Jae-yong’s four trials, 5-year imprisonment → possession → destruction and return → 2 years and June sentences
Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, how did the bribery court judgment change? Graphic = Reporter Cha Junhong [email protected]
– On February 5, 2018, Vice Chairman Lee was re-imprisoned at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi-do, 1078 days after he was released on probation at the second trial. Excluding the one year previously imprisoned, they must serve an additional year and six months in detention centers.
Vice-Chairman Lee’s fate was determined by the fact that the Samsung Compliance Committee’s activities, which the court originally intended to use as the main basis for the sentence, were not effective. The judge said, “It is difficult to say that the activities of the compliance committee have met the effectiveness,” and “it is inappropriate for the activities of the compliance committee to be reflected in the sentencing.
Specifically, ▶Samsung’s compliance monitoring plan for the organization that serves as the control tower was not specifically presented. ▶ There are aspects that need to be supplemented, such as the need to manage the false service contract method used to provide bribes to political power in the past as an independent legal risk.
Vice-Chairman Lee also admitted 8.6 billion won in bribes to former President Park and others as the Supreme Court judged. Earlier, the first trial sentenced Vice-Chairman Lee to five years in prison, the second trial sentenced to two years and six months in prison and four years probation. In August 2019, the Supreme Court’s all-in-one consensus overturned this and returned the case to the Seoul High Court. In this process, the bribe amount changed from 8.9 billion won (first trial) to 3.6 billion won (2nd trial) → 8.6 billion won (the Supreme Court).
However, the judge said that even though the court had been arrested, it had taken into account the sentence to some extent. Vice-Chairman Lee handed the bribe as a bribe, and the bribe is the amount of embezzlement. If the amount of embezzlement exceeds 5 billion won, it is punished by life imprisonment or imprisonment for more than 5 years. However, the judge calculated the sentence as two years and six months on the basis of the provisions of the’crop reduction’ that judges discretionary punishment.
The judge said, “Vice-Chairman Lee is the first offender, and former President Park first requested a bribe, and during the trial, he has already recovered all the damages of embezzlement in business,” and said the reason for taking into account the sentence.
Regarding this, an attorney from a prosecutor interpreted, “In the beginning, there were observations that the court could cut Lee’s sentence in prison within three years and sentence him to probation on the basis of this, but it seems that it is difficult for the court to escape arrest.” did
Attorney Lee In-je (Pacific Law Firm), who was in charge of the defense of Vice Chairman Lee, said, “The nature of this case is that the company’s freedom and property rights were violated by the ex officio abuse of the former president.” ” He added, “We will review the contents of the judgment and decide whether to appeal.”
If Vice-Chairman Lee appeals, the ruling is finalized only after a re-appeal review of the Supreme Court like former President Park Geun-hye. Vice-Chairman Lee was arrested after an arrest warrant was issued during the prosecution’s investigation in February 2017, and was released in February 2018. The remaining sentence is about 1 year and 6 months.
Reporters Dr. Ra and Park Hyun-joo [email protected]
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