Samsung chief Lee Je-Yong cleared of South Korea’s Best Court

The head of Samsung Lee Jae-Yeong was released from the best trial for fraud in South Korea, concluding a long-standing legal battle for his role in a 2015 merger deal.

Lee, the grandson of Samsung’s founder and the company’s actual leader since 2014, has been accused of using shares and accounting frauds to try to get control over the company.

In his final sentence, the Supreme Court in Seoul upheld the sentence of guilty after Lee was acquitted on all charges in two more lawsuits.

The case has widespread the technology giant as the country is fighting corporate corruption scandals, including its powerful family conglomerates known as Chabols.

“Today, the Supreme Court has made it clear through its final decision that the Samsung C&T merger and Samsung Biologics’s accounting treatment are legal,” Samsung’s lawyers said on Thursday.

“We sincerely thank the court for his reasonable decision after a thorough five -year trial.”

Samsung’s boss encountered allegations of fraud after merger The fact that prosecutors said he was intended to displace control of the company from his father Lee Kun-Hi. His father suffered a heart attack in 2014 and faced his legal problems and died in 2020.

The younger Lee was first arrested in 2017 on a bribery charges to win the government’s support for merger between two subsidiaries of Samsung.

In the course of his legal problems, he had separate prison conditions, shortened – one because of a special president president when he was released from prison.

At that time, the government said The leader of the largest company in the country was needed to head South Korea’s economic restoration after the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2024, the District Court cleared Lee of all charges related to the merger worth about $ 8 billion (£ 5.97 billion) between two of its subsidiaries.

Lee was released again after prosecutors appealed the case in the Supreme Court.

Legal affairs in the last decade have added to Samsung’s problems as it is fighting the increase in competition and undermine the results of the stock market.