Vice chairman of South Korea based tech giant Samsung Electronics Co (KRX: 005930) Jay Y. Lee has been sentenced to two and half years in prison after he was found guilty of bribery charges by a South Korean court.
In the case, Lee is accused of bribing a close associate of former South Korea President Park Geun-hye. The associate was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 however, he denied any wrong doings and the sentence was suspended. Thereafter, he was released after serving one year in jail.
The court said this outcome will have major impacts on his managerial position in the tech company as well as how the East Asia country views and conducts business with Samsung Electronics.
Following the sentence, Lee will now be sidelined from any major decision making activities in Samsung. In addition, Lee won’t be able to take lead role in the process of inheriting the company from his father who passed away in October 2020.
This will be a huge blow to the vice chairman as the above two plays a very vital role to keeping control of the tech giant.
