Samsung Chief Get Prison Time In $6.4m Bribery Scandal

Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong has been convicted of bribery and embezzlement, and has been sentenced to five years in prison. Lee had been accused of paying out $6.4m in bribes so as to secure the support of former South Korean president Park Geun-hye and avoid government challenges to a controversial deal Samsung was making. Four other Samsung executives were implicated in the conspiracy.

The five never specifically asked for the former-president's assistance, the prosecution conceded, but took advantage of the now-disgraced politician's confidant, Choi Soon-sil, and the sway she held over Park. The Samsung executives gave the equivalent of $3.2m to a front company owned by Choi. It also bought expensive thoroughbred horses for Choi's daughter.

Despite the evidence, expectations for the outcome of the case had been mixed. Many assumed that the courts would only minimally censure the Samsung executives, given the company's importance and prevalence in South Korea. Lee's own father, Lee Kun-hee, was convicted of both bribery and tax evasion, but escaped prison time.

Times, however, are seemingly changing, and the extent of the public outcry about the case was apparently shared by the judge in the case. "The people expect that the power of a president, the top authority under the Constitution, will be used to serve all people and that big businesses act with social responsibility, through legal economic activities," Judge Kim Jin-dong said of the case. He went on to tie the public's failing trust both to its political leaders and to Samsung itself, suggesting that "the people have come to question the fairness and honesty of the president and have come to distrust the ethical values of Samsung."

Lee's legal team have confirmed that they will appeal the decision. Who will take his role at the head of Samsung during his time in prison is unclear at this stage. Lee himself said that he had little day-to-day involvement in the running of the business during the trial, though Samsung has talked up his role as bringing a "strategic vision" to the business.

"The entire guilty verdict is unacceptable," Song Wu-cheol, one of Lee's lawyers, said in a statement. The appeal is expected to make its way through South Korea's legal structure, all the way to the Supreme Court, though that's not likely to happen until sometime in 2018. According to the law in the country, prison sentences lasting longer than three years cannot be suspended.