Prosecutors keep 12 yr jail term demand for Samsung heir in appeals trial

Prosecutors asked an appellate court on Wednesday to sentence Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to 12 years in prison for bribery and other crimes, maintaining their initial request for punishment from the lower court trial. 

The 49-year-old scion of South Korea's richest conglomerate received a five-year jail term on Aug. 25 after being convicted on five charges, including bribery, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas. 

He was found guilty of providing 8.82 billion won (US$8.2
million) in bribes to Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend and confidante of former President Park Geun-hye, in connection with a massive influence-peddling scandal that led to Park's ousting in March. 

This file photo from Dec. 27, 2017, shows Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. (Yonhap)
Prosecutors also maintained their sentence demands for four top Samsung executives: 10 years each for Choi Gee-sung, former head of Samsung's now-disbanded control tower Future Strategy Office, and his former deputy, Chang Choong-ki, and seven years each for Park Sang-jin, a former president of Samsung Electronics, and another former president, Hwang Sung-soo. They were convicted of similar charges and sentenced to four years in prison or given suspended terms by the lower court.

The prosecution also demanded the defendants forfeit 7.89 billion won of assets hidden overseas.

The court is to deliver its verdict on Lee and the four defendants on Feb. 5. 

Lee, in the courtroom, once again pleaded not guilty. 

"I had a dream of being credited as a leader of a global company by managing Samsung to the best of my ability," he said. "I am no fool to believe that I could succeed at it just with the help of a president... It may sound arrogant, but I had the confidence."

The prosecution charged Lee and the other defendants with involvement in offering or promising 43.3 billion won of bribes to Park and Choi to win government support for a key merger of two Samsung units. The merger was seen as vital to his control of the business group in order to inherit the leadership from his ailing father Lee Kun-hee.  

"Why would I ask for a favor to take over the leadership through bribes? I cannot admit (to the accusations)," he said.  

The vice chairman said he feels terrible that the trial has deprived him of such a chance and that he feels lost as to how to recover his credibility as an entrepreneur, which has been tainted by the scandal.  

But he opted to take the blame for all the criticism and asked for leniency on his executives. 

"The skein of threads have gotten tangled in such a complicated and messed-up way and one thing for sure is that everything is on me," Lee said. "I take all the legal and ethical responsibilities and other defendants are only here because they worked for the company."

Special Counsel Park Young-soo refuted the defendants' argument of insisting the donations were part of fulfilling their social responsibilities. 

"Claiming the illegal sponsoring, including the purchase of a high-end steed and massive funding to Choi's foundations using its affiliates' assets, to be donations is an insult to true corporate philanthropy."

The lower court did not acknowledge as bribes part of the money including the group's donation of some 20.4 billion won to the two foundations allegedly controlled by Choi and 13.5 billion won which were not actually provided. 

The defendants argued that they only accepted Park's demands for fear of retaliation and never sought any government favors in return. 

Lee continued to deny that his first one-on-one encounter with the former president had already taken place prior to the two meetings he has admitted. 

"I only met the ex-president in her safe house twice ... I wouldn't need to lie about something like this," he told the court.

"It may sound inappropriate, but if I don't remember that, I must have dementia." 

Lee insisted that he did not intend to take over the busines empire from his father after he became bedridden following a heart attack in 2014. 

"I do not understand what it means by saying management succession," he said. "I never accepted her requests thinking that it would get me the leadership." 

He said, "Proving my capabilities and being credited by executives for the vision I have is what matters, not how much my stake is worth." 

Lee was arrested in February. Park and Choi are standing separate trials over a string of charges in connection with the scandal that removed Park from office. (Yonhap)

很赞哦!（9）