South Korea: Samsung boss pardoned for “helping the economy”

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The heir and de facto boss of the Samsung group received a presidential pardon on Friday, the latest example in a long South Korean tradition of leniency against big bosses convicted of corruption and other financial crimes. Justification: contribute to the economy.

Billionaire Lee Jae-yong, convicted of corruption and embezzlement last January, will be “reinstated” to “help overcome the economic crisis of South Korea,” Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said.

Mr Lee, 54 – the 278th richest person in the world according to Forbes – was conditionally released in August 2021, after serving 18 months in prison, just over half of his original sentence.

Friday's pardon will allow him to fully return to work, lifting the ban on employment that was imposed on him by the court for a period of five years after his prison sentence.

“Due to the global economic crisis, the dynamism and vitality of the national economy has deteriorated, and there are fears that the economic slump will be prolonged,” the Ministry of Justice said in a statement. p>

– “Engine of growth” –

The ministry hopes that the businessman can “steer the engine of growth of the country by actively investing in the technologies and creating jobs”.

Lee Jae-yong was granted the pardon 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.

A total of 1,693 people, including seriously ill prisoners or prisoners at the end of their sentence, were pardoned on this day marking the surrender of Japan in 1945.

In a statement following his pardon, Mr. Lee said he wanted to “contribute to the economy through continued investment and job creation for young people”.

Mr. Lee is the vice president of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker. The conglomerate's overall revenue is equivalent to one-fifth of South Korea's gross domestic product.

He was jailed for offenses related to a massive corruption scandal that brought down the former President Park Geun-hye.

It is not uncommon for major South Korean tycoons to be accused of corruption, embezzlement, tax evasion or other illegal economic activity.

But many have had their sentences reduced or suspended on appeal, and some – including late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was twice convicted – have received presidential pardons in recognition of their “contribution to the 'national economy'.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Friday that the pardons were aimed at improving the lot of “ordinary people who have been affected by the protracted Covid-19 pandemic

“I hope that this special pardon will be an opportunity for all South Koreans to work together to overcome the economic crisis,” he added.

But according to analysts, these Pardons have simply allowed big businessmen to feel that they were “not constrained by any legal standard”, stressed to AFP Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo.&nbsp ;

– “Detrimental” –

“And the government more or less does what it wants and creates the conditions for the accumulation of capital for businesses, he said.

Mr. Lee is still facing a separate trial on charges of accounting fraud relating to a merger of two Samsung companies in 2015.

In May, he was excused from attending a hearing in as part of this trial to welcome, alongside President Yoon, US President Joe Biden, who was on tour in South Korea, in particular to visit the Samsung chip factory.

The pardon for Mr Lee comes after Samsung presented a massive 450 trillion won ($356 billion) investment plan for the next five years, aimed at making the company a leader in a wide range of sectors – from semiconductors to biologics – and to create 80,000 new jobs.

The company also employs some 20,000 people in the United States, where a new semiconductor factory is under construction in Texas with a scheduled opening in 2024.

But the tycoon's imprisonment hasn't hurt the performance of the company, which reported a more than 70% rise in profits in the second quarter of last year as the shift to remote working boosted demand for devices using its memory chips. 

“Samsung performed flawlessly without any grace,” Tikhonov noted.

“Grace weakens the rule of law, which is potentially, in fact, more harmful than beneficial to the operations of any market economy,” he said.