[Chairman Lee Kun-hee Passes Away] Lee Jae-yong's Side to Submit Absence Letter for the 26th Retrial Remand Hearing

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] With the passing of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee on the 25th, the likelihood of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong being absent from the retrial preparation hearing for the state affairs manipulation case has increased.

According to the legal community on the 25th, Vice Chairman Lee's legal team plans to submit a letter explaining his absence to the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Jung Joon-young), which is handling the retrial. One of Lee's lawyers stated, “Since this is a preparation hearing and not a formal trial date, the defendant is not originally obligated to attend, so instead of requesting a change of trial date, we plan to submit a letter explaining the reason for absence.”

Originally, the court was scheduled to hold the retrial preparation hearing for the bribery and related charges involving Lee and other Samsung officials at around 2 p.m. on the 26th. The preparation hearing is a procedure before the formal trial where the court listens to both sides' plans for evidence presentation and selects necessary evidence and witnesses. Although the defendant is not obligated to attend, it was expected that Lee would appear in court that day as the court unusually issued a summons.

Accordingly, there had been speculation in the business and legal communities that Lee would personally express his views regarding the activities of the Samsung Compliance Committee. This was because the court planned to hear opinions from Lee's side and Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo on the plan and procedure for assessing the effectiveness of the Compliance Committee during the preparation hearing. Additionally, the court had previously appointed former Constitutional Court Justice Kang Il-won, who presided over former President Park Geun-hye's impeachment trial, as a professional advisor to the Compliance Committee on the 15th of this month.

However, with the passing of Lee's father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee, on the 25th, it has become difficult for Lee to attend the trial that day. According to the Criminal Procedure Act, a person who has received a summons or notice for a trial date but cannot attend due to illness or other reasons must submit a doctor's certificate or other relevant documents.

Generally, the death of a parent is considered a valid reason, so the legal community widely expects the court to accept Lee's absence and proceed with the trial without his attendance.

On the other hand, there is also a possibility that the court may reschedule the hearing. Since the court unusually issued a summons for a preparation hearing where the defendant is not obligated to attend, if it judges that the trial procedure cannot proceed without Lee, it may set a new date considering the schedules of the special prosecutor and Lee's legal team. It is expected that a date will be set as early as next month.