Lee Jae-Yong had been convicted of corruption and embezzlement in January, but he will be “reintegrated” to “contribute to overcoming the economic crisis in South Korea”, justified the Ministry of Justice.
Le Monde with AFP
The billionaire Lee Jae-Yong, convicted of corruption and embezzlement last January, benefited from a presidential grace on Friday, August 12. The de facto heir and boss of the Samsung group will be “reinstated” to “help to overcome the economic crisis of South Korea,” said Minister of Justice Han Dong-Hoon.
This grace constitutes the latest example of a long South Korean tradition of leniency against the great bosses condemned for corruption and other financial crimes.
m. Lee, 54 years old – The 278
“Because of the global economic crisis, the dynamism and vitality of the national economy have deteriorated, and it is feared that the economic slump will continue,” said the Ministry of Justice in a press release . The ministry hopes that the businessman can “direct the country’s growth engine by actively investing in technology and creating jobs”.
a turnover equivalent to one fifth of GDP of the country
Lee Jae-Yong obtained this grace at the same time as three other businessmen, including the president of the Lotte group, Shin Dong-Bin, sentenced to a two-year and a half-suspended prison sentence in a case of corruption in 2018.
m. Lee is the vice-president of Samsung Electronics, the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. The overall turnover of the conglomerate is equivalent to a fifth of the gross domestic product in South Korea. He was imprisoned for crimes linked to a vast corruption scandal which had dropped the former President Park Geun-Hye.
It is not uncommon for large South Korean magnates to be accused of corruption, embezzlement of funds, tax evasion or other illegal economic activity. But many have seen their sentence reduced or suspended on appeal, and some – including the late president of Samsung, Lee Kun -Hee, sentenced twice – benefited from presidential grace in recognition of their “contribution to the ‘National economy “.
The president of South Korea Yoon Seok-Youl said on Friday that these graces aimed to improve the fate of “ordinary people who were affected by the prolonged pandemic of Covid-19”. “I hope that this special grace will be an opportunity for all South Koreans to work together to overcome the economic crisis,” he added.
a separate trial for accounting fraud
m. Lee is still the subject of a separate trial for accusations of accounting fraud concerning a merger of two Samsung companies in 2015. In May, he was exempt from attending an audience as part of this trial to welcome, to Sides of President Yoon, the American president Joe Biden, who was on tour in South Korea, in particular to visit the Samsung chip plant.
The grace given to Mr. Lee comes after the presentation by Samsung of a massive investment plan of 450,000 billion won (around 345 billion euros) for the next five years, aimed at making the Company a leader in a wide range of sectors – from semiconductors to organic products – and to create 80,000 new jobs. The company also employs some 20,000 people in the United States, where a new semiconductor factory is under construction in Texas with opening planned in 2024.
But imprisonment of the magnate did not hamper the performance of the company, which announced an increase of more than 70 % of its profits in the second quarter of last year, the transition to remote work having stimulated the request of devices using its memory chips.