[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, who was indicted on charges of bribery related to the state affairs manipulation scandal, has decided not to appeal again to the Supreme Court.
Lee’s legal team announced on the morning of the 25th, the deadline for submitting the appeal, regarding the retrial ruling, "We humbly accept the court’s decision and have decided not to file an appeal." It is reported that the legal team gave up on appealing because they judged that the effectiveness of the Samsung Group Compliance Committee, which was one of the key issues in this retrial, would be difficult to discuss in the appeal trial. It is also said that the fact that criminal cases with sentences under 10 years cannot be appealed on the grounds of unfair sentencing under the Criminal Procedure Act influenced the decision.
However, the sentence imposed on Lee in the retrial is not immediately finalized. There remains a possibility that the special prosecution team led by Park Young-soo, which is in charge of investigating and maintaining the prosecution of this case, will 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 conclusion regarding Lee will be made by the Supreme Court. A representative of the special prosecution team said regarding the appeal, "Just because Lee’s side has given up on appealing does not mean we will give up as well," and "We are internally reviewing whether to appeal." The special prosecution team’s conclusion is expected to be announced in the afternoon.
If the special prosecution team also gives up on appealing and the ruling is finalized, this case will be completely concluded about 3 years and 11 months after Lee was indicted in February 2017. Lee, currently detained at Seoul Detention Center, will be released at the end of July next year if he serves the sentence without parole or other reductions. Since Lee was detained during the prosecution investigation in February 2017 and had already served 353 days in custody until he was released after receiving a suspended sentence in the appellate trial in February the following year, the remaining sentence at this point is about one and a half years.
Previously, Lee was arrested 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 succession of management rights. The first trial recognized 8.9 billion KRW as bribery, including 7.2 billion KRW for supporting equestrian training for Choi’s daughter Jung Yoo-ra and 1.6 billion KRW for sponsoring the Korea Winter Sports Gifted Center, sentencing Lee to five years in prison. The second trial recognized only 3.6 billion KRW as bribery and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison with a four-year probation. However, in August 2019, the Supreme Court’s full bench overturned the ruling, stating that the 3.4 billion KRW for purchasing horses for Jung, which the appellate court had acquitted, should be considered bribery.
The retrial reflected the full bench’s intent. The retrial court sentenced Lee to two years and six months in prison. During the trial, the retrial court had stated it would consider the effectiveness of the Compliance Committee as a mitigating factor in sentencing. However, on the day of sentencing, the 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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