Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, convicted of bribery and embezzlement in 2017, received a special presidential pardon in South Korea.
Lee, one of the most powerful white-collar criminals in the country, was jailed twice for bribing a former president.
The South Korean government justified the pardon by saying that the de facto leader of the largest company is needed of the country to lead the economic recovery after the pandemic.
This marks another twist in a fight over how the country is run, which has raged since the Mass protests gripped Seoul six years ago and ousted a president from office.
Lee’s crimes were directly linked to the corruption scandal that led to the jailing of former President Park Geun-Hye, in office from 2013 to 2017.
The “Crown Prince of Samsung”, as the protesters dubbed him, paid $8 million in bribes President Park and her partner.
With payment wanted to secure support for a merger which the shareholders opposed and which aimed to strengthen the control of his family’s empire.
When it was revealed, millions of South Koreans participated in candlelight protests every weekend in the winter of 2016/2017, demanding an end to the Park government and calling for separation between the worlds of politics and business. .
The Korean parliament opened an impeachment proceeding against Park and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2017.
Lee aka Jay Y Lee in the West, he was jailed a year later for crimes that included embezzling company funds to buy an $800,000 horse for the daughter of a friend of the president.
A new president, Moon Jae-in, then took office with a mandate to put things in order.
But he didn’t make much headway.
In his last days at the head of the country, He granted a pardon to his predecessor.
Now, eight months later, under another new president, the head of Samsung also received the same leniency.
for those who have been fighting corruption, this is a daunting blow.
“It is a setback. And it means that Korea goes back to the time before candlelight demonstrations,” said Sangin Park, a professor of economics and industrial policy at Seoul National University.
Influence of the ‘octopus’
Lee’s case reaffirms the popular understanding that business leaders are untouchable And they are above the law.
In Corea, giant conglomerates dominate the economywith the top 10 accounting for about 80% of GDP.
known as chaebols -which in its translation from Korean is formed by the combination of the words “wealth” (jae) and “clan” (beol)-, are family controlled empires that provide a variety of services.
LG, Hyundai, Lotte and SK are among them.
But Samsung is the biggest and most powerful of all.
As the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, it is a global brand of electronic products.
But at home it does much more: hospitals, hotels, insurance plans, billboards, shipyards, and even theme parks.
Samsung and others chaebols are so ubiquitous that they are known as octopus companies because its tentacles reach everywhere, says Professor YoonKyung Lee, a political sociologist at the University of Toronto.
and those tentacles have infiltrated for a long time at the highest levels of Korean politics.
Professor Lee was at the 2016 protests and says most of the anger was directed at President Park’s personal actions.
But he said labor activists and others took pains to highlight the enormous influence of chaebols in government.
Chaebols were heavily supported by the government after the Korean War.
They were provided with cheaper electricity and tax incentives.
Was launched a “Buy Korea” campaign and even aid was provided to suppress trade union movements.
But the resulting monopolies also crushed the competitionstifled labor movements and their practices spawned decades of bribery and corruption cases.
In many cases, Professor Lee said, executives received light sentences or were suspended.
In some cases, the judges said the economy could suffer if a leader chaebol was out of action.
Lee’s own father, Lee Kun-hee was convicted of bribery and fraud in the 1990s when he was president of Samsung.
But He did not serve a single day in jail.
So in 2017, when her son was taken to a cell with a five-year sentence, campaigners hoped the case would mark a turning point.
In and out of jail
However, the celebration was short-lived.
Lee’s court battle dragged on for years with twists and turns worthy of the most dramatic Korean series.
An appeals court released him, then a higher court ordered a new trial in which he was again found guilty and jailed.
But just a few months into his second prison term, the Moon government put him on parole, saying it was in the national interest.
Since then, he has returned as the public face of Samsung: in May, greeted US President Joe Bidenwho was on a business visit to South Korea.
Lee still faces criminal charges: manipulation of company valuations, Samsung Accounting Fraud and Business Decision Making in breach of the terms of his sentence.
Pardon means that you will be able to fully resume your executive responsibilities.
It follows a pattern of doomed chaebol leaders being reset to zero, as if nothing had happened.
“When it comes to formal power, there is the office of the president and the National Assembly: they make the laws,” Professor Lee said.
“But when it comes to political or cultural influence or even how people think about the importance of chaebol in Korean society, it is actually a coalition of conservative political and business elites who have mutual interests.”
split reaction
The government’s pardon of Lee is based on the argument that the leaders chaebol are necessary for the economy.
But numerous economists have pointed out that this it is not supported by hard evidence.
“Chaebol forgiveness has not historically contributed to economic growth or change,” Professor Park said.
Analysts say that Samsung has done perfectly well during the period that Lee has been in and out of prison.
Reform advocates say South Korea, where growth has slowed for years, also needs to end its reliance on chaebols.
“Several studies have shown that it is getting harder and harder to get the ‘drip effect’ – it’s time to move away from the old notion that Any illegal act done by the chaebols it’s ‘forgivable’ if they do their job”says Roh Jong-Hwa, a lawyer with the advocacy group Solidarity for Economic Reform.
Still, the dismay among critics at Lee’s pardon is not shared by the general South Korean public.
A recent public poll recorded 70% support for clemency.
How to explain that support?
The desire to address corruption and influence chaebol remains, experts say.
But mixed with fear and concern about the looming recession, and the residual pride that Samsung represents Korea on the world stage.
“There is a fundamental belief that If Samsung is doing well, Korea is doing well. And Koreans have lived with this myth for so many decades that it is very difficult for ordinary citizens to break out of it,” says Professor Lee.
“Right now, in the midst of an economic downturn, people want to see some concrete sign that we are moving forward and Lee’s release is a sign of that.” (YO)
With information from Yuna Ku, BBC Korean Service
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
