Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong — known in the West as Jay Y. Lee — has received a pardon from South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, allowing the Samsung founder’s grandson to resume leadership of the powerful conglomerate, Bloomberg reports . The pardon will be formalized on August 15.
The presidential pardon commemorates the two pardons given to Lee’s father, Lee Kun-hee, who was convicted of corruption and tax evasion in 1996 and 2008.
“To overcome the economic crisis by reviving the economy, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, whose sentence recently expired, will be reinstated,” the South Korean government said in a statement to the Financial Times.
The pardon is the latest twist in a 2017 bribery scandal, when Lee was accused of bribing then-President Park Geun-hye. The Samsung heir was initially sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of corruption but served less than a year of his sentence before being released on appeal. He was subsequently jailed again in January 2021 before being released on parole again in August of the same year. In all, he served a year and a half of his 30-month sentence.
“Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong… Is Reinstated”
A presidential pardon is important because it opens the door for Lee to take back the helm of the tech giant founded by his grandfather, Lee Byung-Chul. Under Korean law, convicted criminals are barred from holding formal positions at a company like Samsung for five years after their conviction. Bloomberg reports that Lee has continued to receive reports from the company without having an official title.
Samsung currently has no one as chairman following the death of Lee Kun-hee in October 2020. However, Bloomberg notes that the pardon opens the door for Lee to return and enforce important strategic decisions that are arguably necessary as the chaebol struggles with inflation, instability caused by the war in Ukraine, supply chain problems, caused by China’s Covid lockdowns and complications arising from escalating US-China relations.
Lee’s formal return to the company is seen as a potential source of stability, not to mention a potentially politically popular one. As the Associated Press noted last year, around five million people in South Korea own shares in Samsung, leading to widespread support for Lee’s release from prison. But critics say the pardon of a cozy relationship between Korea’s business and political elite, which borders on corruption, is endemic, notes the Financial Times.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to start over. I’m sorry for worrying a lot of people,” Lee said in a statement. “I will try harder to give back to society and grow together.” However, the businessman’s legal woes are far from over as he still faces separate stock manipulation charges in connection with a merger of two Samsung subsidiaries.