Tanvi Sinha
The Seoul High Court ruled the heir to Samsung and its vice chairman, J.Y Lee, a term of 2.5 years to jail over bribery scandal.
The decision, given by the Presiding Judge Jeong Jun-yeong, mentioned alongside its judgement that Mr. Lee had shown tremendous compliance and that he promised to be more transparent with the company.
This comes as a matter that triggered a 2017 case against Lee about bribery committed with an associate of former South Korean President Park Geun Hye.
While Lee’s lawyer has expressed his disappointment saying that this matter was bigger than Lee and that it actually was more about the Former President’s abuse of power towards corporates.
While former President Park Geun Hye remains a highly controversial figure in South Korean history, her being the first sitting president in the country’s history to be impeached, the matter of seeking a relief from the Supreme court- while technically possible- is unlikely.
This is as the earlier case had already had the Supreme Court give its ruling on the matter.
This ruling makes the foundation for a major shift in the bias that has been shown to “chaebols” or persons affiliated with a rich business with a rich pedigree behind them.
It sends a message that the old system of leniency that has been shown to these companies and their top personnel will change.
Meanwhile Samsung and its affiliated sister companies’ stocks have sharply declined- Samsung by 4%.
This as well as the lack of Mr. Lee in major decisions will prove bad for their competition as important matters like M&Cs and the brand reputation of the company will be taking a hit.
It is however said that the day-to-day functioning of the company should remain largely unchanged for the time being.