Korea’s top court acquits Samsung head of unfair merger charges

The Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong of charges that he was involved in wrongdoing surrounding a controversial merger between Samsung units. The ruling came four years and 10 months after Lee was indicted on 19 charges related to his alleged involvement in a scheme orchestrated by Samsung’s now-defunct Future Strategy Office to help him secure control of Samsung Group at minimal cost through the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, which was approved at the former’s shareholder meeting exactly 10 years earlier. At the time of the merger, Samsung C&T held a 4.06 percent stake in the conglomerate’s flagship unit, Samsung Electronics. Lee, who then was the largest shareholder of Cheil Industries and had no stake in Samsung C&T, was able to secure his control of Samsung Electronics through the merger. The merger ratio between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries at the time was 0.35 to 1, and prosecutors believed the strategy office arranged the timing and the ratio of the merger to favor Cheil Industries over Samsung C&T.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times