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Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong. Photo: AP

Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong, convicted of bribery, gets South Korean presidential pardon

  • The justice ministry said the billionaire will be ‘reinstated’ to give him a chance to ‘contribute to overcoming the economic crisis’ of the country
  • The government also pardoned three other businessmen, including Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin
South Korea
The heir and de facto leader of Samsung group received a presidential pardon on Friday, the latest example of South Korea’s long tradition of freeing business leaders convicted of corruption on economic grounds.
Billionaire Lee Jae-yong, who was convicted of bribery and embezzlement in January last year, will be “reinstated” to give him a chance to “contribute to overcoming the economic crisis” of the country, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said.

Lee – the 278th-richest person in the world, according to Forbes, with a net worth of US$7.9 billion – was released on parole in August 2021, after serving 18 months in jail, just over half of his original sentence.

Friday’s pardon will allow him to fully return to work by lifting a post-prison employment restriction that had been set for five years.

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“Due to the global economic crisis, the dynamism and vitality of the national economy have deteriorated, and the economic slump is feared to be prolonged,” the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The pardon was given so that Lee – and other similarly pardoned high-level executives – could “lead the country’s continuous growth engine through active investment in technology and job creation,” the ministry added.

Lee, 54, vowed to work hard for the national economy after receiving his pardon.

“I will contribute to the economy with continuous investment and job creation and give back the people and government’s regards,” Samsung said in a statement, citing Lee.

Three other businessmen were also pardoned on Friday, including Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, who was sentenced to a suspended two-and-half-year prison term in a bribery case in 2018.

“We sincerely thank the government’s and people’s decision to grant pardon, and chairman Shin Dong-bin and staff members at Lotte will contribute to overcoming the complex global crisis,” Lotte said in a statement.

Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin. Photo: Getty Images

Lee is the vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest smartphone maker. The conglomerate’s overall turnover is equivalent to about one-fifth of South Korea’s gross domestic product.

He was jailed for offences connected to a massive corruption scandal that brought down former president Park Geun-hye.

The reinstatement will allow Lee to rejoin the board at the tech giant as well as travel overseas for deals.

“Samsung’s in a crisis as it has lost its two strengths: technology leadership and strict management,” said Park Ju-gun, head of corporate research at Leaders Index. “There’s an absence of a control tower making the right decisions at the right time to keep its leadership in the semiconductor industry.”

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Lee is widely expected to expedite major strategic decisions ranging from chipmaking deals to governance reforms.

Samsung warned during its earnings call last month that the Ukraine war, inflation and waning consumer demand made it immensely challenging to forecast the year ahead.

One of the key outstanding questions around Lee is whether he’ll seek to take over as chairman of the tech giant. Ever since Lee’s father, Lee Kun-hee, passed away in October 2020, the post to oversee the US$280 billion company has remained vacant.

Still, Lee’s legal woes will not be cleared for the next few years as he’s being separately prosecuted in relation to a merger of some Samsung subsidiaries and will be attending weekly hearings related to that case.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

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