[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] It appears that the 2 years and 6 months prison sentence for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was indicted on charges of bribery related to the state affairs manipulation scandal, will be finalized.
Lee’s legal team announced on the morning of the 25th that they "humbly accept the court’s ruling in the retrial and have decided not to file a further appeal." It was reported that the legal team held repeated meetings until the morning of the same day to decide whether to appeal, ultimately reaching this conclusion. With this decision made on the deadline day for submitting an appeal, the sentence of 2 years and 6 months imprisonment related to Lee’s case in the state affairs manipulation scandal is expected to be confirmed.
Previously, Lee’s side had expressed regret over the retrial ruling. They also voiced dissatisfaction with the court’s judgment regarding the effectiveness of the Compliance Committee. The Compliance Committee, in a statement released after its regular meeting on the 21st, said, "We urged the resolution of the core issue of Samsung’s compliance, which is the management succession problem, and Lee Jae-yong has given up the 4th generation succession," adding, "What could be a more effective measure to prevent illegal acts than this?" However, the legal team seems to have judged that the issue of the effectiveness of the Samsung Group Compliance Committee, which was one of the key points in the retrial, would be difficult to discuss in the appeal trial. It is also interpreted that the fact that under the Criminal Procedure Act, cases with sentences under 10 years cannot be appealed on the grounds of improper sentencing influenced this decision.
However, Lee’s sentence is not immediately finalized. There remains a possibility that the special prosecution team led by Park Young-soo, which conducted the investigation and prosecution of this case, may file an appeal. If the special prosecution team submits an appeal to the retrial court, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 1 (Chief Judge Jung Jun-young), by the end of the day, the final decision on Lee will be made by the Supreme Court. However, the legal community views the possibility of appeal as low, considering that Lee was sentenced to imprisonment and that his legal team has given up on appealing.
Lee was detained and indicted in February 2017 on charges of bribing former President Park Geun-hye and Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil) to assist with Samsung Group’s management succession. The first trial recognized 8.9 billion KRW in bribes, including 7.2 billion KRW for equestrian support for Choi’s daughter Jung Yoo-ra and 1.6 billion KRW for sponsoring the Korea Winter Sports Gifted Center, sentencing Lee to 5 years in prison. The second trial recognized only 3.6 billion KRW as bribes and sentenced him to 2 years and 6 months in prison with a 4-year probation. Lee was released after the appeal trial ruling. However, in August 2019, the Supreme Court’s full bench overturned the appeal ruling, stating that the 3.4 billion KRW for purchasing horses for Jung Yoo-ra, which the appeal court had acquitted, should be considered bribery, and remanded the case.
The retrial reflected the full bench’s intent. The retrial court sentenced Lee to 2 years and 6 months in prison. Earlier, during the trial, the retrial court had announced it would consider the effectiveness of the Compliance Committee as a mitigating factor. However, on the day of sentencing, the retrial court judged that Samsung’s Compliance Committee activities "did not meet the criteria for effectiveness," sentenced Lee to imprisonment, and ordered his immediate detention in court.
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