'Not Guilty in First Trial' Chairman Lee Jae-yong, First Appeal Hearing Preparation Date Held Today

The first appellate trial of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was indicted on charges of involvement in unfair group affiliate mergers and accounting fraud for management succession and was acquitted in the first trial, will be held on the 27th.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong returns home after a business trip to Europe.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 13 (Presiding Judges Baek Gang-jin, Kim Seon-hee, Lee In-su) will conduct the first pretrial procedure for the case involving violations of the Capital Markets Act such as unfair trading practices, market manipulation, and breach of fiduciary duty at 3 p.m. that day.

The pretrial preparation is a procedure to organize issues and plan evidence investigation by confirming the positions of the prosecution and the defendant before the formal trial begins. Unlike the formal trial, the defendant is not obligated to attend, so Chairman Lee is not expected to appear in court that day.

Chairman Lee was indicted in September 2020 on charges of involvement in various unfair transactions, market manipulation, and accounting fraud promoted by the Future Strategy Office to securely succeed management rights at minimal cost and strengthen control during the 2015 merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T Corporation.

However, the first trial court acquitted Chairman Lee of all 19 charges in February. The court judged that the merger of the two companies was not solely for the purpose of Lee’s succession and strengthening control, so it could not be considered unfair overall, and there was no evidence to recognize that shareholders suffered damages.

In response, the prosecution appealed, stating, “There is a significant difference in views with the first trial judgment regarding the purpose and circumstances of the group control succession through the Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries merger, the evidence judgment on accounting fraud and unfair trading acts, fact-finding, and legal interpretation.”