South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, on Friday granted a presidential pardon to billionaire Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, who had been convicted of corruption.
Lee, sentenced in January to two and a half years in prison for bribery and embezzlement, will be “reinstated” to “help overcome South Korea’s economic crisis”Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said.
The 54-year-old businessman, the 278th richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine, was paroled in August 2021 after serving 18 months in prison, 60% of his original sentence.
The announced presidential pardon will allow Lee to return to full employment, lifting a five-year court-imposed ban following his corruption conviction.
Due to the global economic crisis, the dynamism and vitality of the national economy has deteriorated and it is feared that the economic recession will continue,” the Ministry of Justice said.
According to the statement, the ministry hopes that Lee Jae-yong and Samsung, whose revenue is equal to a fifth of South Korea’s gross domestic product, can “lead the country’s growth engine by actively investing in technology and creating jobs.”
Lee was pardoned along with three other businessmen, including Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, who received a two-and-a-half-year suspended prison sentence in a corruption case in 2018.
Lee was found guilty of bribes he paid to the network built around former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her friend, Choi Soon-sil, known as “Rasputina,” in a retrial of the case that shocked the country.
The pardon the Samsung leader received in August 2021 divided South Korean society, part of which considered the decision to go against then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s promise to fight corruption.
Source: Observadora
