–
Grandson of Samsung founder Lee Jae-Yong became the boss of the group after his father’s heart attack in 2014.
KEYSTONE
The heir to the South Korean giant Samsung Lee Jae-yong escaped on Monday the detention required by the prosecution in the investigation into the controversial merger of two of the group’s subsidiaries.
After a nine-hour hearing, a Seoul court rejected the prosecutor’s request, finding that there was insufficient reason for his arrest, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. Dressed in a dark suit, a mask on his face due to the coronavirus, the heir to the largest South Korean conglomerate had not answered questions from journalists when he arrived in court.
The Seoul Procuratorate announced Thursday that it had requested an arrest warrant against Lee Jae-yong, who was suspected of price manipulation during the controversial merger of two Samsung units, Cheil Industries and C&T, in 2015.
This operation, capital for the succession at the head of the group, had been denounced by certain shareholders, who believed that C&T had been deliberately undervalued. But the National Pension Fund, a large shareholder of Samsung under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Affairs, had supported it.
Grandson of Samsung founder Lee Jae-Yong became the group’s de facto boss after his father’s heart attack in 2014.
Artificial drop?
Mr. Lee was the majority shareholder in Cheil Industries, and the merger defendants say that the heir to Samsung was trying to artificially lower the price of C&T in order to give it a larger stake in the new entity born from the merger of the two and that was an important component of the group structure. This would have allowed him to consolidate his grip on the conglomerate.
In a statement, the group said the suspicion of price manipulation was “unfounded,” adding that Lee was not involved in “any illegal activity.”
Rejudged for corruption
Vice President of Samsung Electronics, Lee is also on trial for corruption in the resounding scandal that led to the dismissal and sentencing of South Korean ex-President Park Geun-hye.
In early May, Lee apologized for the scandals and affairs that plagued the world’s largest smartphone maker.
The group was founded in 1938 by Lee Jae-yong’s grandfather, who promised he would be the last in the line of family succession. He was sentenced in 2017 to five years in prison as part of the corruption scandal that had killed Park Geun-hye. The 51-year-old leader was released a year later. However, her case is currently the subject of a new trial.
Samsung’s turnover alone accounts for a fifth of the GDP of South Korea’s 12th largest economy in the world, hence its considerable political and economic weight.
((ATS / NXP)
Posted: 08.06.2020, 22h04-
Related