‘Crown Prince’ Samsung is officially pardoned, will be released from prison this Friday

According to an announcement from the Korean Ministry of Justice, Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae Yong will be released from prison this week.

Mr. Lee was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in January after the Seoul High Court convicted him of embezzlement and bribery. He will be released on August 13.

Justice Minister Park Beom-kye said Mr. Lee was one of 810 prisoners to be pardoned during the upcoming National Liberation Day. Last year, more than 600 people were pardoned for the occasion.

“Due to the overcrowding of correctional facilities, the risk of infectious diseases, and to help remedy the country’s economic situation, the number of people pardoned this year has increased significantly compared to the previous year. last year,” said Minister Park.

Samsung declined to comment on the above information.

Despite his freedom, Mr. Lee is unlikely to return to work. He will be subject to a five-year labor ban under Korean law. In addition, those granted amnesty are also not allowed to work abroad until the end of 5 years. Of course, Mr. Lee could apply to the Justice Department to get himself an exception, but it’s not clear if he will.

Previously, Mr. Lee was entangled in a scandal involving former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who was also in prison.

Mr. Lee was sentenced to five years in prison in August 2017 for bribery and embezzlement, but he was released less than a year later when the appeals court found some of the charges and granted him a suspended sentence.

Mr. Lee was then sent back to prison the following January and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in a retrial. His father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee, passed away last year after being in a coma since having a heart attack in 2014. In fact, ever since that time, the “prince” Lee has been in charge. highest performance in Samsung.

While there are still some protests against Mr. Lee’s early release from prison, public support for this is around 70%, according to two surveys. On the internet, some people said that Mr. Lee had paid for all the sins while others emphasized that without Mr. Lee, Samsung would be behind other competitors at a time of crisis in the semiconductor market and rivals such as TSMC. Intel is making big investments.

Samsung’s day-to-day operations were less affected while Mr. Lee was in prison. Second-quarter operating profit increased by 54%. Even when he was jailed for the first time in 2017, Samsung recorded an annual profit of $46.6 billion. But experts say the complex organizational structure of the group means that no one, except Mr. Lee, can make strategic decisions that require money from three main divisions: mobile, consumer electronics and chips.

Seoul National University professor Jaeyong Song, author of the book “The Samsung Way”, said that in reality, risky strategies such as M&A, billion-dollar deals are decided by Samsung bosses. “CEOs in Korea are more like COOs. They care about short-term profits, while bosses care about long-term competition because their tenure is for life.”

Analysts linked Mr. Lee’s legal troubles to Samsung’s cash mountain. As of the end of June, Samsung had less than $100 billion in cash and had not made a major acquisition since 2016.