South Korea prosecutors seek 12 years jail for Samsung
heir Lee in corruption case
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 [December 27, 2017]
By Joyce Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors
sought a 12-year jail term on Wednesday for Samsung Electronics Vice
Chairman Jay Y. Lee, in a corruption case that led to the ouster of the
nation's president earlier this year.
They made their demand in the Seoul High Court which is hearing an
appeal by Lee against a five-year jail term handed out to him in August
by a lower court in the case that has gripped the country.
The 49-year-old billionaire heir to South Korea's Samsung Group was
convicted by the lower court of bribing the country's former president
Park Geun-hye. Besides Lee, who has been in detention since February,
four former Samsung executives were also charged in the case.
The lower court had ruled the bribe helped Lee strengthen his control of
Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel in the country's biggest
conglomerate and one of the world's top technology firms.
"The defendants say they are concerned about the future of Samsung
Group. However, what they are really concerned about is Lee's loss of
control and subsequent economic losses," special prosecutor Park Young-soo
told a packed court of about 150 people.
Lee, in a dark suit and white shirt without a tie at the appeals
hearing, earlier on Wednesday denied the bribery charge and also denied
recent allegations by prosecutors that he had met Park one-on-one four
times, instead of the previously disclosed three times.
The Seoul High Court is expected to rule on the appeal in late January.
Whichever side loses could take the case to the Supreme Court, the final
court of appeal in South Korea.
The lower court had ruled in August that while Lee never asked for
Park's help directly, the fact that a 2015 merger of two Samsung
affiliates did help cement Lee's control over Samsung Electronics
implied he was asking for the president's help to strengthen his control
of the firm.
His lawyers have strongly challenged this logic since appeals hearings
began in October.
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Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman, Jay Y. Lee, arrives at a court in
Seoul, South Korea, October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
"The defendants have not once tried to solve issues by colluding with political
power and gaining its help. The special prosecution has severely distorted the
truth, and that distortion is reflected in the jail term they sought," said Lee
In-jae, Lee's lawyer, responding to the 12-year jail term demand.
FALLOUT
The scandal played a big part in the downfall of former president Park, who was
dismissed in March after being impeached, and the case cast a critical eye over
the ties between South Korea's chaebols - big family-owned corporate groups -
and its political leaders.
Faced with investor worries of a leadership vacuum as Lee remains detained,
Samsung Electronics appointed a new generation of top managers at its three main
businesses including semiconductors in October.
Lee has been widely expected to follow in his father, Lee Kun-hee's, footsteps
in the future. Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of the group, has been hospitalized
since 2014.
Answering a prosecutor's question about his future as Samsung heir, Lee said: "I
had been privately thinking that Chairman Lee Kun-hee will be the final person
to have the title of Samsung Group chairman."
"I have often said that I want to be a businessman who is recognized for
capability, not just for being someone's son, or for having a lot of shares."
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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