[Breaking] Lee Jae-yong Acquitted: Samsung Says "Legality of Merger and Accounting Confirmed, Grateful for Wise Judgment"

Regarding the Supreme Court's final acquittal in the criminal case related to the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries and the accounting practices of Samsung Biologics, Samsung's legal representative stated, "The legality has been definitively confirmed."

On the 17th, Samsung's legal representative released a statement saying, "Through today's final decision by the Supreme Court, it has been clearly confirmed that the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, as well as the accounting practices of Samsung Biologics, were lawful. We sincerely thank the court for its wise judgment after a thorough review over the past five years."

On this day, the Supreme Court finalized the acquittal of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on charges of unfair merger and accounting fraud. Prosecutors had argued that Chairman Lee, as the largest shareholder of Cheil Industries, manipulated the merger ratio between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries and falsified Samsung Biologics' accounting to facilitate this. However, the Supreme Court did not accept these claims.

Yonhap News

This ruling marks the conclusion of the judicial review into the substance of the management succession allegations that arose after the 2015 merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries. The criminal proceedings, which began with the prosecution's indictment in 2020 and lasted for about five years, have effectively ended with the Supreme Court's acquittal.

Previously, both the first and second instance courts did not recognize any illegality in the merger process or the accounting practices and delivered not-guilty verdicts. The Supreme Court also found the lower courts' judgments to be correct and dismissed the prosecution's appeal.

Samsung conveyed its position on the Supreme Court's decision briefly through a statement from its legal representative, without issuing a separate official comment.