South Korean businessman Lee Jae-yong, heir to the Samsung empire and vice president of the company, will be sent back to prison after the Seoul High Court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for his role in a corruption scandal. who also led Park Geun-hye, the president of South Korea between 2013 and until her indictment in 2017.
“(Lee) actively offered bribes to Park and engaged in inappropriate activities to seek, albeit implicitly, Park’s support in the transfer of managerial power (to Samsung),” the court said in a verdict, collected by the South Korean agency Yonhap.
However, the sentence handed down on Monday was substantially shorter than the nine years requested by prosecutors, as the court considered the businessman’s difficulty in rejecting bribery claims by the then president of the country.
Lee, 52, had been sentenced in 2017 to five years in prison for giving billions in earnings to Choi Soon Sil, a close associate of then-South Korean President Park Geun-hye, so that through this friendship , win the favor of the government in the merger of two Samsung subsidiaries.
Despite the fact that a year later, this sentence will be reduced by the court of appeal, which led to the release of the businessman from prison, the Supreme Court later decided to request a review of the case by the Seoul High Court.
Last week, South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld the 20-year prison sentence for former President Park Geun Hye, accused of corruption, three years after she was convicted of influence peddling, bribery and abuse of power. considered one of the biggest political scandals in the country.
Park, the daughter of military dictator Park Chung Hee, was sentenced in 2018 to 24 years in prison after being convicted of 16 of the 18 corruption charges against her and fined 18,000 million in earnings (13.4 million earnings). euro) for all abuses suffered during his term of office.
Among other allegations, Park was found guilty of abuse of power because he forced various companies, such as Samsung and Lotte, to donate 77.4 billion won (57.9 million euros) to two foundations controlled by a close friend. Choi Soon Sil; as well as receiving a bribe of 3.5 billion won ($ 2.6 million) between May 2013 and September 2016.