Samsung heir Lee Jae Yong has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison over a bribery scandal. The news arrives after a high court in South Korea passed the judgment over the company’s head.

According to a BBC report, the bribery case is a retrial of a bribery case, which even involved the country’s previous President, Park Geun-hye, who also faced prison term for bribery and corruption charges. For those unaware, Lee has been the head of Samsung Electronics since 2014, although, the recent ruling will likely have impacts on his current role in the South Korean tech giant. Notably, the news of the prison term on Lee Jae Yong caused the company’s shares to plummet by more than 4 percent.

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Furthermore, the prison sentence will temporarily have Lee be separated from being involved in any decision making process involving him in Samsung. Kim Dae-jong, a business professor at Sejong University, told news agency AFP that “It’s really a huge blow and a big crisis for Samsung.” Back in 2014, Lee had assumed the leadership of the company after his father Lee Kun-hee was forced to step down over health related issues.

As per the court’s ruling, Lee “actively provided bribes and implicitly asked the president to use her power to help his smooth succession” as the head of Samsung. “It is very unfortunate that Samsung, the country’s top company and proud global innovator, is repeatedly involved in crimes whenever there is a change in political power.” The court found that Lee is responsible for 8.6 billion won (roughly 7.8 million US Dollars) worth of bribery, embezzlement, and concealment of criminal proceeds.

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The post Samsung Heir Lee Jae Yong faces prison over bribery case appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Galaxy Note 7 fiasco wasn’t the only issue Samsung had to battle with in 2016. The South Korean corporation was caught up in a messy bribery scandal that led to the impeachment of the country’s President, Park Geun-Hye.

Samsung’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong (Jay Y. Lee) and some other high-ranking officers have been named as suspects in the scandal. The corporation today has therefore announced that it will be making some changes in its business management strategy.

First, the company will be pulling out of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) which is the country’s largest lobbying organization. FKI is said to have played a major role in the scandal and is alleged to have acted as the middleman between the government and its own members. Samsung Electronics Co. has already withdrawn and the other arms of the corporation should follow suit.

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Samsung has also announced that after the government’s probe ends, it will dissolve its corporate strategy office. The strategy office nicknamed the ‘control tower’ is said to be the nerve center through which Samsung is controlled. It is made up of about 200 executives specially chosen by the Lee family.

The changes are not expected to affect the way Samsung is run in relation to its products. The company’s next flagship phone, the Galaxy S8 is expected to be privately unveiled in Barcelona during this year’s MWC holding at the end of the month.

(Source, via )

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