Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong (R) arrives for a trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul,South Korea, on Aug. 7, 2017. South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought 12 years in prison for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, an heir apparent of Samsung Group, the country's biggest family-run conglomerate, on bribery charges. (Xinhua/Lee sang-ho)
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean court on Friday sentenced Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, an heir apparent of Samsung Group, the country's biggest family-run conglomerate, to five years in prison.
Lee was found guilty of five crimes, including bribery, embezzlement, concealment of criminal proceeds, illegal asset transfer to overseas and perjury.
The Seoul Central District Court acknowledged all of the five charges levied by special prosecutors, who demanded a 12-year jail term earlier this month.
The team of Lee's attorneys said it will appeal to the court ruling.
Two former Samsung executives were jailed for four years and arrested inside the courtroom immediately after the verdict was handed down.
Two other former executives were sentenced to three and two-and-a-half years in suspended jail terms respectively.
The court ruled that the de-facto Samsung chief bribed former President Park Geun-hye, who is now in custody and standing trial for the corruption scandal bringing her impeachment, in anticipation for favors in power transfer from his ailing father Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics.
The younger Lee has controlled the country's biggest corporate empire since his father was hospitalized for a heart attack more than three years ago.
The ruling said the case was about an immoral link between political and business powers, calling it as an ongoing cozy bond between politicians and businessmen that makes people feel a sense of loss.
Lee, the third generation of the Samsung family, was seen by prosecutors as paying, or promising to pay, a total of 43.3 billion won (38.4 million U.S. dollars) in bribes to the ousted president and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil who is taken into custody and standing trial for the influence-peddling scandal.
The court acknowledged the bribery of 7.2 billion won of the total to support an equestrian training of Chung Yoo-ra, Choi's daughter.
Samsung's offer of 1.63 billion won to a Choi-controlled children sports center was regarded by the court as bribery.
Lee was convicted of embezzling 6.4 billion won to provide the bribes, but he was not found guilty of offering 20.4 billion won in bribes to two non-profit foundations controlled by Choi.
The bribes were paid in anticipation for government favors in the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung units seen as crucial to the father-to-son power transfer of the Samsung family.
The merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T was made possible as the national pension fund, which is in charge of managing retirement savings for nearly half of the 50 million population, supported the merger.
The National Pension Service (NPS), then-biggest shareholder of one of the two Samsung affiliates, cast ballots in favor of the merger despite oppositions from other shareholders.
The princeling of South Korea's richest family was found guilty of lying under oath during a December hearing at the National Assembly over the presidential scandal.
Park Young-soo was named as an independent counsel in November last year to investigate the corruption scandal involving the impeached president and the Samsung heir.
The Samsung's third-generation leader was bought into custody on Feb. 17 and indicted 11 days later with detention.
Since then, 53 public hearings had been held, and 59 witnesses had been called in for the Lee case.
A great public attention was paid to the case, which the special prosecutor called the "trial of the century." It marked the first time in Samsung's history that one of the founding family members was arrested and taken into custody.
His father stood trial in 2008 on charges of evading taxes and illegally transferring assets to his son, but the second-generation chief was sentenced to a suspended jail term.
The conviction of the younger Lee's charges was widely forecast to affect court rulings on the impeached president and her longtime confidante.
