China News Service, December 30. According to Korean media reports, the Criminal Court of the Seoul High Court of South Korea will open on the 30th to retrial the case of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's cronies for the last time.
The trial proceeded in the order of the prosecutor’s sentence, the defense lawyer’s final debate, and Li Zairong’s final statement.
How the prosecutor will seek punishment has attracted much attention.
The report pointed out that it usually takes about a month from the final public trial to the verdict. The decision on whether to arrest Li Zairong is expected to be made in early 2021.
Data map: Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics.
According to previous reports, Lee Jae-yong was previously involved in the scandal of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s “confidentiality in politics”. He was suspected of donating and bribing to a consortium controlled by Park Geun-hye’s “best friend” Choi Sun-sil in order to facilitate the inheritance of Samsung.
In 2019, the South Korean Supreme Court sent the case back for retrial.
It is understood that Li Zairong was sentenced to 5 years in prison in the first instance and 2 years and 6 months in prison in the second instance with a four-year reprieve and was released.
In October 2020, the Seoul High Court initiated a retrial of the case.
The independent prosecution team pointed out in the last court hearing that even if Samsung’s compliance monitoring committee is recognized for sentencing charges, the sentence of Lee Jae-yong cannot be less than five years in prison.
On the other hand, Li asked the court to reflect the effectiveness of the compliance monitoring committee in the sentencing process.
Korean media previously reported that the South Korean Supreme Court found that the amount of Li Zayong's bribery increased to more than 5 billion won (approximately RMB 29.51 million), and that additional punishment is inevitable.