The Seoul High Court upheld a previous ruling from February last year, dismissing suspicions that the merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T Corp. was planned to facilitate Lee's control of the Samsung empire.
Thirteen other people, including Choi Ji-sung, the former head of Samsung's Future Strategy Office, and Kim Jong-joong, the office’s former strategy team leader, were also found not guilty. Prosecutors had alleged that they were involved in fraud including stock price manipulation and accounting irregularities. They were first charged in September 2020 after a long investigation.
A key part of the case was whether Samsung Biologics had altered its financial records to hide risks about its control over a company called Samsung Bioepis. The court said Samsung should have notified that Biogen's call option might affect its control of Bioepis. However, it found no proof that Samsung had hidden this on purpose.
The court also dismissed claims that the merger was intended to give Lee greater control over the company, saying that there was no manipulation of the merger process.
Prosecutors argued that the merger was intended to allow Lee to take control of Samsung by deliberately inflating or manipulating the value of its affiliates. In February 2024, after more than three years of hearings, a lower court ruled Lee was not guilty. Monday's ruling now makes it more difficult for prosecutors to push the case further.
The case has drawn a lot of public attention, with many questioning how large family-owned companies, known as chaebols, handle leadership and power transfers. Some critics say that failing to convict figures like Lee makes it harder to hold executives of big companies accountable.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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