Prosecutors in South Korea on Wednesday sought a 12-year prison sentence for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairperson Lee Jay-Yong, Reuters reported.
“Lee’s control and wealth at Samsung is none other than a result of bribery,” special prosecutor Park Young-soo said on Wednesday. “People want ‘chaebol’ [a large family-owned business conglomerate] to no longer maintain the privileges to rule over the Republic of Korea alongside politicians.”
Lee, who was viewed as the heir to the business empire founded by his father Lee Kun-hee, was sentenced in August to five years in prison after a lower court found him guilty of bribery and other crimes in a scandal that led to the dismissal of the country’s former President Park Geun-Hye. Besides bribery, Lee faces charges of embezzlement, hiding assets overseas, concealing profit from criminal acts and perjury.
Prosecutors had asked the court for a 12-year jail term in August, reasoning that such a sentence would help “establish the rule of law”, Bloomberg reported. The ties between government and business have come under renewed scrutiny since the scandal broke in 2016.
The Seoul High Court is expected to rule on the case in late January.
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