As Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was sentenced to jail again after being sentenced to prison in connection with the’Gukjeong Nongdan’ case, the judicial risks surrounding Lee and the Samsung Group are expected to continue for a long time. This is because there are still trials related to the suspicion of illegal succession of management rights. Vice-Chairman Lee is expected to continue to stand in court for years to come.
According to the legal community on the 18th, a trial will continue as early as next month on the suspicion of Lee’s succession of management rights. Currently, the trial has been postponed indefinitely due to the spread of Corona 19.
The Seoul Central District Court’s criminal agreement 25-2 (deputy judges Lim Jeong-yeop, Kwon Seong-su, and Kim Seon-hee) decided to postpone the preparation date for the second trial against Lee, scheduled for the 14th at the beginning of this month, and announce a specific trial schedule for next month.
In September of last year, the prosecution indicted 11 former and current Samsung executives, including Vice Chairman Lee, on charges of fraudulent transactions under the Capital Markets Act, market price manipulation, and negligence in business. It was 1 year and 10 months after the investigation began in November 2018 after a complaint was filed against Samsung Biologics’ fraudulent accounting charges from the Securities and Futures Commission under the Financial Services Commission.
The prosecution believes that at the time of the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015, Vice Chairman Lee deliberately lowered the value of Samsung C&T and intentionally inflated the value of Cheil Industries in order to take over the management rights of the Samsung Group. In the process, it is believed that Samsung Biologics, a subsidiary, has also committed a fraudulent accounting in order to increase the value of Cheil Industries, which has a large stake in Vice Chairman Lee. Group-wide illegal activities such as market price control through treasury stock purchase are also considered to have been mobilized.
On the other hand, Samsung refutes that the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries was a legitimate decision made due to business needs. At the time of the merger with Samsung Biologics, it is also completely denying the allegations of market price manipulation. In the legal profession, it is expected that it will take at least 4 to 5 years before the Supreme Court’s final judgment on the suspicion of succession of management rights.
There are also trials that Samsung has to deal with at the group level. In addition to the Samsung Electronics Service union disintegration case, the Everland union disintegration case, the Samsung Biologics fraudulent accounting administrative litigation, the Samsung Biologics fraudulent accounting evidence destruction appeal, and the Samsung C&T merger’s stock purchase right price litigation are in progress.
Reporter Ahn Hyo-joo [email protected]
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