Jay Y. Lee a Samsung heir is expected to be imprisoned for 5 years for corruption charges. This has been described as one of the harshest sentences which has been handed down on a Korean executive. He was convicted of bribing the former president of South Korea to gain more control for Samsung.
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This trial has shown that there are close ties between business executives and the political class in South Korea. Mr. Jay Lee is 49 years old. Prosecutors on his case were seeking for him to be handed 12 years in prison but he received less than half of that.
This is a clear message on the willingness of South Korea to break the strong relationship between the billionaires and those in power.
Lee was actually convicted on all the 5 charges which faced him. One of those was allegations of embezzlement.
Samsung was founded 80 years ago. This business empire is doing very well. This is especially true for Samsung Electronics Company.
Samsung Empire is under the tight control of Lee family through numerous companies. They do business in almost every sector such as manufacturing of cargo ships, semi-conductors, smartphones, home appliances, life insurance and clothes among others.
The customers of Samsung include: Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc, and Wal-Mart among others. Now that the boss will be spend 5 years in prison, his deputy will have to be strengthened in order to run the global firm.
Outside the courthouse, the members of the public expressed a divided opinion. According a section of the public, the sentence is approve that South Koreans live in a country where rule of of law is working. Other people were disappointed by the decision made by the courts.
Some social media users expressed their concerns noting that 5 years was too little for the Samsang heir Jay Lee.
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