Jailed Samsung chief released on parole 'for national interest'

SEOUL • The jailed de facto leader of the giant Samsung group was released on parole yesterday, the latest instance of South Korea's long tradition of freeing business leaders imprisoned for corruption or tax evasion on economic grounds.

Lee Jae-yong - the 202nd richest person in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of US$11.4 billion (S$15.5 billion) - was serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed in January for bribery, embezzlement and other offences in connection with the corruption scandal that brought down former president Park Geun-hye.

But calls for his early release from both politicians and business leaders grew in recent months over what they claimed was a possible leadership vacuum at South Korea's biggest conglomerate.

The justice ministry announced on Monday that Lee had been paroled - among around 800 early releases - citing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the economy.

Lee was first jailed for five years in 2017, after Park's ouster, then walked free the following year when an appeals court dismissed most of his bribery convictions and gave him a suspended sentence. But the Supreme Court later ordered Lee to face a retrial, which convicted and jailed him again.

His parole is not the end of his legal travails, however. He remains on trial over alleged stock manipulation that effectively eased his path towards taking control of the family conglomerate - the same purpose for which he was convicted of bribing Park.

There is a long history of top South Korean tycoons being charged with bribery, embezzlement, tax evasion or other offences.

But many of those convicted have subsequently had their sentences cut or suspended on appeal, with some - including Lee's father, the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was convicted twice - receiving presidential pardons in recognition of their "contribution to the national economy".

The presidential Blue House insisted Lee's parole was a decision "made for the national interest".

The giant Samsung group is by far the largest of the family-controlled empires known as chaebols that dominate business in South Korea, the world's 12th largest economy. Its flagship subsidiary Samsung Electronics - where Lee is vice-chairman - is the world's biggest smartphone maker.

A company spokesman declined to comment on Lee's release.

Lee's imprisonment has been no barrier to the firm's performance - it announced a surge of more than 70 per cent in second-quarter profits last month, with coronavirus-driven working from home boosting demand for devices using its memory chips.

Chaebol families often have only a small ownership stake in their empires, but maintain control through complex webs of cross-shareholdings between units.

The 53-year-old Lee promised last year to end the line of family succession at the firm, saying he would not pass down his role to his children as he bowed in apology for multiple controversies.

Regardless of the controversies, leaders of the country's top four conglomerates - SK Group, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Group and Samsung - in June met President Moon Jae-in to press him to pardon Lee.

Polls also showed an increasing number of South Koreans in favour of granting him parole, with backing from more than 66 per cent of respondents in a recent Realmeter survey.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE