File of Samsung heir ahead of retrial in bribery scandal

Reuters-Seoul High Court is planning to hold Samsung's de facto chief Jay Y. Lee's retrial on the influence-peddling scandal on Friday (October 25) as South Korea's Supreme Court overturned part of an appeals court bribery conviction against Lee in late August. The Supreme Court said the interpretation by the Seoul High Court on what constituted bribes by Samsung to then-President Park Geun-hye was too narrow and returned the case to the appellate court. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, was sentenced in 2017 to five years imprisonment for bribing a friend of Park as he sought to succeed his father and strengthen control of Samsung Group. He was freed after a year in detention when the appellate Seoul High Court halved his sentence and suspended it for four years. After the Supreme Court's ruling, Lee's lawyer denied Samsung received any favors from Park and said any payment made by Samsung was in response to a demand from the now-deposed leader, an argument it had made in lower-court trials.