Seoul (AFP)
The South Korean Supreme Court on Thursday quashed former President Park Geun-hye and heir to the Samsung Lee Jae-yong empire in a resounding corruption scandal and ordered that they be retried.
Ms. Park, who came to power in 2013, was dismissed in 2017 as a result of the case, which resulted in her being sentenced to 25 years in prison, including for corruption and abuse of office.
She was found guilty in April 2018 of receiving or asking for more than $ 20 million from South Korean conglomerates, sharing classified documents, blacklisting critics of her work. or fired officials who opposed his abuse of power.
The Supreme Court however said Thursday that a separate decision should have been made in the corruption part of this sprawling case.
"We are sending the case back to the Seoul High Court," said Kim Myeong-su, chairman of the court.
South Korean media have pointed out that this decision may not be good news for the former president, who could ultimately face a longer sentence if found guilty in two separate trials.
The first woman elected president in South Korea, Ms. Park, 67, was arrested in March 2017 for a series of accusations that had exposed the blurred acquaintances between the political power and the big South Korean family conglomerates. especially Samsung.
In one of the ramifications of this case, the vice president of Samsung Electronics and son of the president of the Samsung group, Lee Jae-Yong, heir to the conglomerate, was sentenced in the first instance to five years in prison, before his sanction is appealed to a conditional sentence of imprisonment.
The Court of Appeal, however, quashed that decision on Thursday and also ordered a retrial for the de facto boss of the world's largest maker of smartphones and memory chips.
This judgment is a setback for the group, which is by far the largest of all the family conglomerates that dominate the 11th world economy.
In the first instance, Mr. Lee had been convicted of a number of offenses, including corruption, misuse of corporate property and perjury before the national repre- sentation.
The fall of the conservative president, following massive demonstrations throughout the country, allowed the alternation and election of Moon Jae-in (center-left), who contributed in 2018 to the spectacular rapprochement between the two Koreas.
© 2019 AFP