What was the reason for the sentence of two years and six months in prison for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong?



In the legal community, it is generally analyzed that the activities of Samsung's Compliance Committee failed to meet the demands of the court.



Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 1 today (18th) sentenced Vice-Chairman Lee to a sentence of two years and six months in prison, and expressed the reason for the sentence that "the compliance system does not seem to have reached the point of preventing and monitoring activities against possible new risks." Revealed.



It was also pointed out that "there was not a specific way to monitor the compliance of the organization acting as a control tower in Samsung Group."



The role and function of the Compliance Committee should completely block the possibility of fraud by the head of the family, which is interpreted to mean that the judge did not meet these expectations.



At the same time, Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong in his final statement said, "I pledged to make a company with the highest level of morality," and said, "It sincerely showed the will of compliance management."



He also explained that it would have been very difficult in reality for Vice-Chairman Lee to return all the money that was recognized as embezzlement, and to reject the president's request as the head of the company.



The judge's explanation reveals why the sentence for Vice-Chairman Lee is only half of the court sentence.



If the amount of bribery is more than 5 billion won, the legal lower limit is 5 years. In the case of Vice Chairman Lee, the amount of bribe is 8.68 billion won and the sentence is 2 years and 6 months.



The judges'reduced the size of the sentence', taking into account the normality of establishing a compliance committee and making efforts and saying that the incumbent president's request could not have been rejected.



In fact, Vice Chairman Lee was sentenced to five years in prison at the first trial in which 8.9 billion won was recognized as a bribe.



At the second trial, the amount of bribery was reduced to 3.6 billion won, and she was sentenced to two years and six months in prison and four years of probation.



Due to today's trial, Vice-Chairman Lee was jailed again 179 days after he was released on probation.



Since Vice-Chairman Lee was imprisoned for the first time in February 2017, he was imprisoned for 354 days, so the remaining sentence is one year and six months.



(Photo = Yonhap News)