Again, Court Sentences Samsung Heir to 2½ Years Imprisonment

A Seoul High Court on Monday sentenced the heir to Samsung’s corporate empire, Lee Jae-yong, to two and a half years imprisonment in a reopened corruption trial, local media reported.

The national news agency Yonhap reported also that it imposed a two and a half-year sentence on the South Korean broadcasters.

The background to the proceedings is a corruption scandal involving former South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Samsung is said to have paid large sums to companies owned by a controversial confidante of Park.

Lee had already been sentenced to five years in prison for corruption in 2017.

A year later, the sentence was reduced to probation.

The trial was later resumed. (dpa)