SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea’s most successful business group, was sentenced Friday to five years prison for offering bribes and other crimes.
Lee, 49, was groomed to lead the conglomerate that was founded by his grandfather and became such a dominating force in South Korea that it’s mockingly called “Republic of Samsung” by the public.
He took a higher profile role at the world’s largest maker of smartphones, television sets and microchips that power consumer electronics after his father suffered a heart attack in 2014 and was poised to cement control. Instead, at the end of last year Lee was implicated in a massive political scandal that culminated in President Park Geun-hye’s ouster.
The court said he was guilty of offering bribes to the former president and her close friend Choi Soon-sil to facilitate a smooth handover of power at Samsung, which is a publicly traded company. Park and Choi are also on trial. A Samsung lawyer said the guilty verdict would be appealed.
– HAS LEE LOST HIS HOLD ON SAMSUNG?