Search Results for: lee jae-yong

This update on the Lee Jae-yong legal saga makes me wonder what was done behind the scenes by Samsung to influence this panel’s decision?:

Samsung Group heir apparent Lee Jae-yong was granted a respite Friday in a legal battle over his alleged role in a controversial merger and fraudulent accounting, as an independent panel of experts concluded that prosecutors should not indict him. 

However, Samsung is still cautious as Lee’s legal battle is not over.

After hours of discussion, the panel, made up of civil activists, legal experts and others, concurred that the investigation into Lee unwarranted, giving a breather to Samsung and its de facto leader.

“We respect the decision from the committee,” Lee’s lawyers said in a release. “We thank the committee for giving Lee and Samsung a chance to focus on their business activities and overcome the current crisis.”

Early this month, a few days ahead of a court ruling over his detention, Lee, vice chairman at Samsung Electronics Co., requested the panel review whether prosecutors’ investigation is fair, seeking public support for the high-stake legal battle.

The independent panel was introduced two years ago to enhance neutrality and fairness of prosecutors’ probes into cases that are of great public interest. In a nutshell, the panel was created to rein in prosecutors’ powers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link. I have no idea if Lee is guilty of what he is accused of, but what I do know is that Korea is a rule by law nation instead of a rule of law nation. If powers that be want him guilty they can likely make it happen unless Lee gives them what they want.

Here is the latest on the Korean government’s attempt to put Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong behind bars:

 A court in Seoul early Tuesday refused to issue an arrest warrant for Samsung Group’s de facto leader, Lee Jae-yong, who are under investigation over succession-related allegations.

The Seoul Central District Court turned down the prosecution’s request to put Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, behind bars, citing that there is not sufficient probable cause for his arrest.

Two other Samsung executives, Choi Gee-sung and Kim Jong-joong, from the group’s now-disbanded control tower, the Future Strategy Office, also avoided arrest.

“There was insufficient explanation on the need to arrest the defendants against the principle of trial without detention,” Judge Won Jung-sook said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link,

Former President Park has received more time in prison than murderers and rapists in Korea:

Former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison and 18 billion won in fine on Friday in a massive corruption scandal that toppled her from power early last year.

In a live televised trial, the Seoul Central District Court meted out the guilty verdict for the 66-year-old former leader, about a year after her arrest in late March of 2017.

Park was convicted of 16 counts of corruption, including bribery, coercion and abuse of power. Prosecutors had demanded a 30-year jail term.  [Yonhap]

Here is what the judge found her guilty of:

They include forcing conglomerates to contribute 77.4 billion won to two non-profit foundations Choi controlled; forcing Hyundai Motor Group to sign deals with Choi-controlled companies; forcing Lotte Group to pitch into Choi’s project to build a sports facility in return for a duty-free business license; forcing Posco to create a fencing team and have the Choi-controlled The Blue K take over its management; and forcing Samsung Group to fund some 1.6 billion won to a winter sports education center practically run by Choi as well as buy three horses for Choi, whose daughter Chung Yoo-ra is a dressage athlete.

“Park abused the power given to her by the people of the country and conspired with Choi to demand bribes from companies and meddle in their business decisions,” Kim said. “She abused her power as the president and received 14 billion won worth of bribes from Samsung and Lotte, and requested 8.9 billion won from SK Group.”

The court said Park received bribes worth 7.2 billion won from Samsung Group, though it cannot determine how much she kept for herself.

Park was also found guilty of abusing her power by blacklisting artists and cultural figures critical of her administration and exercising undue influence in the appointment of civil servants. She was found guilty of abusing her power as president to pressure former senior official of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Roh Tae-kang, to step down, after he pointed out problems concerning special treatment given to Choi’s daughter. The court judged Park had also pressured three officials in the ministry who did not cooperate on blacklisting artists to step down.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

So she was convicted of taking bribes even though the prosecutors could not prove she received any bribes.  I have yet to see definitive evidence of how Park supposedly pressured these companies to donate Choi’s organizations.  Has anyone seen a definitive listing of the evidence that proves she told someone to donate money to Choi or else?

Interestingly this is what she was not convicted of:

However, the judge found Park not guilty of pressuring Samsung Electronics’ Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to financially help Choi’s equestrian daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.  [Korea Times]

So in the end all the drama of extraditing Chung Yoo-ra back to Korea was all about nothing.

Park’s lawyers will likely appeal the ruling.  I suspect that this sentence will be greatly reduced after the appeals process takes place, which is why I think this heavy sentencing is more for domestic political consumption.  ROK Heads may remember Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong received a five year sentence for corruption and then was quietly released on appeal a few months later.  I don’t think Park will be released in a few months, but I doubt she will do 24 years in prison considering rapists and murderers don’t spend that much time in Korean jails.

The only conviction to stick to Lee Jae-yong was sponsoring equestrian training for Choi Soon-sil’s daughter:

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was released Monday after an appellate court handed him a suspended sentence dismissing most of the key charges against him in a bribery and corruption scandal that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye last year.

The Seoul High Court sentenced Lee to 2 1/2 years in prison with a stay of execution for four years. He was immediately freed from a nearly yearlong incarceration.

Two former group executives were also released on suspended sentences. They were given four-year jail terms by the lower court.

Lee, 50, was arrested on Feb. 17, 2017 on five charges, including bribery, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas.

A lower court sentenced him to five years in prison, on Aug. 25, for giving 8.8 billion won (US$8.1 million) in bribes to Park and her confidante, Choi Soon-sil, in return for government backing of the merger of two key Samsung units, a process that was deemed vital to tighten Lee’s control of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate. The prosecution had demanded 12 years in prison for Lee.

But the appeals court acknowledged as bribes only some 3.6 billion won which Samsung sent to Choi’s German-based firm to sponsor the equestrian training of her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.

The court found Lee “passively” complied with Park’s request to sponsor the former dressage rider after he was apparently intimidated by Park and Choi.  [Yonhap]

Here is the strangest thing about the court ruling:

But the appeals court acknowledged as bribes only some 3.6 billion won which Samsung sent to Choi’s German-based firm to sponsor the equestrian training of her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.

The court found Lee “passively” complied with Park’s request to sponsor the former dressage rider after he was apparently intimidated by Park and Choi.

What did former President Park tell him that was so intimidating that is what I want to know?

Here is the latest update on the status of ex-ROK President Park Geun-hye who continues to be jailed despite not being convicted of anything:

Former President Park Geun-hye, currently facing a criminal trial for conspiring with her friend to receive bribes from conglomerates, is extremely regretful that she was fooled by her longtime confidante, Park’s onetime defense lawyer said Wednesday.

Park was indicted in April 2017 for having abused her power to receive bribes from conglomerates by conspiring with her friend, Choi Soon-sil.

The former president is also charged with leaking confidential information to Choi. She has been boycotting the trial since October, describing the accusations as “political retaliation.”

All her lawyers, including a longtime associate, Yoo Yeong-ha, resigned from the case to protest a judge’s decision to extend her detention to April 2018.

In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, Yoo spoke for the first time about the case and his client. It was Yoo’s first media interview since Park was impeached and ousted from presidency in March of last year. The interview took place on Wednesday, and the JoongAng Ilbo published it in Friday’s edition.

Yoo said Park had not known about Choi’s alleged illicit activities when she was president. “The National Intelligence Service, police and the presidential senior secretary for civil affairs never briefed her about Choi,” Yoo said. “She said it is unfortunate that no one informed her about Choi’s activities.”

Park was indicted in April for alleged crimes committed during her failed presidency. Prosecutors said Park, in collusion with Choi, received massive bribes from conglomerates through two cultural and sports foundations Choi practically controlled. Samsung’s contributions to the foundations and generous sponsorship of equestrian training for Choi’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, were described as bribes, and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was also indicted for offering or promising the president a total of 43.3 billion won ($40.7 million).

Yoo said Park is firm on three key issues surrounding her charges. “Park is firm that she never heard from Choi that Samsung Group offered support for Choi’s daughter’s equestrian training,” Yoo said. “Park is also firm that she never asked Samsung Vice Chairman Lee to support Choi and her daughter. She also stands firm that she never ordered An Chong-bum, then senior economic affairs secretary, to create foundations.”

Regarding the newly added charges that Park had misappropriated the funds of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and used the money for private purposes, Yoo said the former leader is also innocent on this count. Earlier this month, the prosecution said Park had used 1.5 billion won of misappropriated NIS funds for private affairs, including beauty treatments.

Yoo had visited Park at the Seoul Detention Center after the new charges were added. Speculation was high that Yoo would be rehired, but Park ultimately did not retain him.

“At the beginning of her term, Park was briefed that the Blue House of the previous administrations had received money from the NIS and used it, and there is no legal problem involving the practice,” Yoo said. “She therefore told her officials to do business as usual. She never received any report about spending the NIS money.”

Yoo added, “It’s also not true that Park used the NIS money for private affairs. A president has their own special-activities account. There’s no reason for her to use the NIS money.”

Yoo also said it is unfair to hold Park accountable for the administration’s creation and operation of a blacklist of liberal artists to oppress them and cut their funding just because she was briefed about a plan.

“She doesn’t seem to recall any specific order,” Yoo said. “If you argue that she made a tacit order for something just because she received a briefing about it, it means that presidents will be linked to all sorts of crimes in the future. No administration will be safe, if you use that logic.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but on this issue I have yet to see the evidence that Park ever accepted a bribe or knew what Choi was up to.  If this all ends up being smoke and mirrors to get her out of office this is going to cause a precedent that whenever the conservatives take power they will legally go after liberal presidents for real or imagined reasons as well.

This appears to be the testimony that prosecutors have been spending all these months trying to get out of Chung Yoo-ra:

Chung made a bombshell revelation on Wednesday on the details of Samsung’s support for her training. Samsung provided her three expensive horses, Salcido, Vitana V and Rausing 1233 in 2015 and 2016. Choi swapped Salcido and Vitana V with Vladimir and Stasha in September, as the first media reports about the scandal began. The independent counsel argued that the trade of the horses was intended to cover up Samsung’s tie to Choi.

Chung testified that Samsung must have known about her mother’s trading of the horses. “I telephoned my equestrian coach, Christian Kamplade, in June and asked him about it,” she said. “He told me that my mother, [former Samsung Electronics president] Park Sang-jin and [former executive director] Hwang Sung-soo met in Copenhagen, Denmark, the day before trading the horses.”

She also said she has an audio recording of the conservation and that a broker for the deal also complained to her in English, “Samsung needs to pay me,” referring to delayed payments.

After the independent counsel discussed Samsung’s claim that Choi unilaterally made a decision to trade the horses without the company’s knowledge or approval, Chung said, “My mother told me that Samsung ordered to change the horses. It makes no sense that they were not aware of it.”

She added, “My mother told me that things will get noisy if word gets out Samsung is supporting just me before other athletes join the program.”

Lawyers representing Lee said Chung was only 18 years old when the deals were signed and she was not involved in the negotiations. Chung probably gave a testimony wanted by the independent counsel in order to avoid another warrant hearing, the lawyers said. The prosecution made two attempts to detain Chung, but both requests were rejected by a local court.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

Really nothing new here because it has long been known that Samsung was sponsoring her equestrian training in return for influence from her mother.  Chung has just confirmed what was already known.

Once Park Geun-hye was impeached it was only a matter of time before this happened:

Former President Park Geun-hye was arrested on Friday in connection with a corruption scandal that led to her removal from office.

The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to detain Park on charges of bribery, abuse of authority, coercion and leaking government secrets, after a marathon hearing the previous day.

“The need for her arrest is acknowledged because there is probable cause to charge her and a concern of evidence being destroyed,” Judge Kang Boo-young said.

Park, ousted in a historic ruling on March 10, became the country’s third former president to be arrested over criminal allegations, following Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo-hwan.

Following the decision, Park was transferred to a detention center south of Seoul from the prosecution’s office where she had been waiting for the result after the nearly nine-hour court hearing.

The detention center is where key figures embroiled in the scandal, including Park’s longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and Samsung’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong, are held in custody.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I am really curious what evidence the prosecutors have against President Park that she committed bribery because I have yet to see any?:

South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye was named a bribery suspect on Tuesday as special prosecutors wrapped up their three-month probe into a massive influence-peddling scandal.

The probe team, led by Independent Counsel Park Young-soo, suspects that the president colluded with her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and took bribes from the country’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group in return for business favors, its spokesman Lee Kyu-chul said.

President Park, currently awaiting the Constitutional Court’s decision on her impeachment, will not face charges for now as an incumbent president has immunity from criminal indictment.

State prosecutors will decide whether to continue with the investigation into Park as the deadline for the special probe team expires Tuesday.

Special prosecutors indicted Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung, on charges of giving or promising some 43.3 billion won (US$38.3 million) in bribes to the president’s jailed friend Choi in return for the government’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.  [Yonhap]

I would not be surprised if the prosecutors named her as a bribery suspect just to appease the mobs of protesters knowing full well they don’t have any evidence to charge her.

The below article from The Diplomat is a really good article that details the complexities and key players of the current ROK presidential crisis.  Like I have always said if it wasn’t for the tablet PC that JTBC News acquired the impeachment likely never would have happened due to the all the backroom deals in place to keep things quiet:

As someone living in Korea and having watched history unfold these last few months, it has been impossible to shake the feeling the media did what the Prosecution Service was reluctant to do. Without media involvement, the engagement of bystanders, and the propinquity of various storylines coming together, it appears possible and even likely the Choi Soon-sil scandal would have been snuffed out like so many other allegations before it. It was only after Park had been impeached and a special prosecutor assigned that more proper investigations began, culminating in the parliamentary hearings and the shocking indictment of Samsung’s chief, Lee Jae-yong. The courts, unfortunately, have yet to demonstrate a change from the norm, flatly denying the special prosecutor’s request for a warrant to arrest Lee, citing “a lack of evidence” despite overwhelming media coverage and Lee’s own admissions in parliamentary hearings to the contrary.

Based on the evidence presented here and in those hearings, it becomes difficult to view the current presidential scandal as a single, isolated incident. Instead, the picture painted depicts a deeply embedded tradition of backdoor dealings on an epidemic scale affecting all levels of government, especially the very bureaus that should be overseeing justice. Beyond influence-peddling, the scandal extends to strong-arm tactics to suppress the truth by manipulating the press, questionable due process in the courts, and possible tampering with the Prosecution Service.

Had it not been for Choi Soon-sil’s tablet, Park may have never been impeached.  [The Diplomat]

I highly recommend reading the whole thing at the link.  By the way I don’t think I will ever buy another Nature Republic product ever again after reading about the shadiness of its CEO in the article.

It appears South Korean prosecutors have been able to flip Choi Soon-sil’s niece and she is testifying against her.  With Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong saying he felt pressured him to give money to Choi’s foundation and her own niece confirming the allegation, it seems the prosecutors have a very strong case against her now:

Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a South Korean presidential impeachment scandal, clashed with a niece Tuesday over allegations they coerced Samsung Group into making donations to a sports foundation under their control.

Choi, her niece Chang Si-ho and former Vice Culture and Sports Minister Kim Chong were summoned to the Seoul Central District Court to testify on allegations they colluded to extort more than 1.6 billion won (US$1.35 million) in donations from the nation’s largest business group to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, which was established in June 2015.

Chang early on admitted that they forced the donations from Samsung and that she embezzled funds from the center. Her admission came a day after special prosecutors investigating the scandal sought an arrest warrant for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on charges of bribery.

According to the prosecutors, Lee was involved in Samsung’s decision to give up to 43 billion won to various organizations linked to Choi in return for the Park Geun-hye administration’s backing of a merger between two companies belonging to the conglomerate in 2015.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but what I haven’t seen strong evidence of yet is how President Park Geun-hye was involved in all of this?