Lee Jae-yong Sentenced to 2 Years and 6 Months in Prison: May This Sever the Cozy Ties Between Politicians and Businesses [Editorial]

[경향신문]

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics attends the sentencing hearing on the case of the abuse of state authority at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of January 18. Yonhap News

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics on trial after being released when the execution of his sentence was suspended in the second trial, was arrested again. After the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the lower court, on January 18, the Criminal Agreement Division 1 (chief judge Jeong Jun-yeong) of the Seoul High Court sentenced Lee to two years and six months in prison for bribery and had Lee arrested in the courtroom. Since the Supreme Court had already recognized some of the charges for which Lee was acquitted in the second trial, a prison sentence in the latest trial was expected. Lee failed to break away from the bad practices of the chaebol. He contributed to the nation’s first ever impeachment of a president by engaging in immoral ties with those in power and embezzling a large amount of the company funds. If a person has committed a crime, it is only natural that he be punished, even if he is the head of a conglomerate.

Lee was arrested in February 2017 for paying for the equestrian training expenses of Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil), as a bribe in exchange for favors from former President Park Geun-hye so that he could succeed management of Samsung Group. In the first trial, the judges found Lee guilty of handing out bribes amounting to 8.9 billion won including 7.2 billion won for equestrian training and sentenced him to five years in prison. In the second trial, the court only recognized as bribes 3.6 billion won--the cost for services--among the 7.2 billion won equestrian expenses and sentenced Lee to two years and six months in prison, but suspended the execution of the sentence for four years. In August 2019, the Grand Bench of the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Seoul High Court after recognizing an additional 5 billion won used to purchase three horses (3.4 billion won) and to support the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center (1.6 billion won) as bribes.

Since the Supreme Court had already determined the verdict on whether or not Lee was guilty of the main charges, public attention in this day’s court decision was on the sentence. As for the compliance committee at Samsung, which the bench was expected to take into consideration for leniency, the bench concluded that it was ineffective. The policy was missing key elements, for there was no basis to hold the compliance committee responsible for any illegal activities that the committee failed to detect. Also based on the evaluation standard of the committee, which states that the company must exclude anyone involved in illegal activities from major positions, vice chairman Lee Jae-yong should have immediately stepped down. Samsung had implemented similar policies, such as compliance support, in the past, but, but they failed to stop Lee from breaking the law.

Lee’s crime of bribery and embezzlement of 8.6 billion won is a serious crime that can be sentenced up to life in prison, but the court only sentenced him to half the sentence proclaimed in the first trial, 2 years and six months in prison. The court was as lenient as it could be within the scope permitted by law. The reflection and repentance that Lee showed during the trial seems to have affected the court decision. In his final statement, Lee said, “I will go beyond compliance and turn this company into one with the highest level of transparency and morality.” We hope Lee’s pledge will lead to practice, severing the link of cozy ties between politics and business.