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Fearing that the South Korean tech giant did not make a key strategic decision, support for his parole is increasing.
South Korea’s Ministry of Justice said that Samsung Electronics’ vice chairman Lee Jae-yong was sentenced to jail for bribery, corruption and other allegations. He has been granted parole and is expected to be released this Friday.
The ministry said in a statement on Monday: “The decision to grant Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong parole is the result of a comprehensive review of various factors such as public sentiment and good behavior during detention.”
Convicted of bribing a friend of former President Park Geun-hye, the 53-year-old Lee has already served 18 months in a revised 30-month sentence. From August 2017, he initially served one year and five years in prison and was later suspended. The court’s decision was subsequently overturned. Although the sentence was shortened, he was sent back to prison in January this year.
Fearing that the South Korean technology giant did not make key strategic decisions, politics, the public, and the wider business community are increasingly supporting him on parole.
Although the day-to-day operations of the world’s largest memory chip manufacturer and smartphone manufacturer have not been affected by his absence, company sources said that the decision on major investments and mergers and acquisitions should only be made by Li Mingbo.
In particular, at a time when the global chip shortage and competitors such as TSMC and Intel are making large investments, the decision to set up a $17 billion factory in the United States to produce advanced logic chips is waiting for his return.
The Korean Federation of Industry, a large business lobby group, said in a statement that it welcomes Lee’s parole decision.
“If the current stagnant investment clock does not end soon, we may fall behind global companies such as Intel and TSMC, and lose the livelihood of the Korean economy in a short period of time.”
Lee still needs the attorney general to approve him to return to work because the law prohibits certain convictions from working for five years in companies related to these convictions.
Legal experts said that he is likely to receive the money due to circumstances such as the amount of money deemed to have been repaid.
Samsung Electronics declined to comment.
High support
South Korea’s largest conglomerate is still owned and controlled by its founding family. Even if senior family members are sentenced to jail, there is almost no priority in giving control to the outside world.
Although public opinion polls show that public support for Lee Kuan Yew’s parole is as high as 70%, many civil organizations have been opposed, accusing President Moon Jae-in of hypocrisy on business elites after he took office.
“If the beneficiary government gives priority to the chaebol owners on parole, we must reconsider the existence of the Moon Jae-in government,” said Jin Zhuhao, an official of the militant group People Unity Participation in Democracy, using the local term large family business.
Lee’s legal dilemma is not limited to bribery convictions. He was also on trial for accounting fraud and stock price manipulation related to the 2015 merger of two Samsung companies.
The South Korean court also decided in June that he should be tried in a separate case accused of illegal use of tranquilizers.
In both cases, Li denied these allegations.
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