Samsung Caught Bribing Government Officials

Dekortage writes "Allegedly, electronics giant Samsung Electronics attempted to bribe a South Korean government official with 5 million won (US$5,445). Ironically, the official was Lee Yong-chul, who was a presidential monitor against corruption at the time. This is the latest allegation against Samsung, which was recently accused of running 'a vast network of bribery through the government, the judiciary branch and the news media' that reaches all the way to South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun."

Comments

I want my share

[telchine]

Who's going to pay me not to criticise them in my comment?

Has Samsung learned nothing from the U.S.?!?!

[elrous0]

Hey Samsung, you don't bribe OUTRIGHT! The smart way to do it is through major contributions to "non-political" nonprofits (like "Focus on the Family" or moveon.org) and hosting generous fundraisers for candidates where all your employees and anyone else you can muster show up at $2,000 a plate.

Geez, handing a politician an actual suitcase full of cash went out with Huey Long. The smart companies figured out long ago that there were much better, technically legal, ways to bribe their politicians.

South Korea

[Junky191]

I've spent enough time there to know that token respect bribes are just a part of how business gets done. I'm sure most of the large corporations are doing the same, it just seems Samsung slipped up and got caught.

What they didn't mention

[swb311]

That it was $5,000 worth of old Samsung CRTs.

A vast network of bribery in South Korea...

[digitaldc]

...also known as Washington lobbyists in the United States.

Bribery? In Southeast Asia?

[b96miata]

This is unheard of. We must stop samsung before this sort of behavior spreads and becomes endemic to countries in the region.

Corruption everywhere

[TheBearBear]

I grew up a bit naive, believing my country is different from others in terms of corruption, with all our checks and balances and just our culture. In other countries where corruption runs high, people just accept it as a way of life. But now I am reading all about corruption in my country and it just made me realize that our form corruption is most dangerous. Corruption hides behind all these wack laws and loopholes so alot of times we won't/can't recognize it as corruption, while other poor countries - tho they are off worse - know full well what it is.

You see, those countries' peoples will have a chance to fight because they know what it is. Depends on how bad they're willing to shed blood. THat's why their "leaders" rule with an iron hand. They're AFRAID OF THE PEOPLE. US, on the other hand - we don't even have the will to fight. We're too comfortable. Corruption THRIVES on this. Corruption doesn't have to rule with an iron hand. They know the sheep are fat and lazy.

We've all taken the red pill.

another slashdot "editing" moment

[gEvil (beta)]

This is another one of those slashdot moments that could easily be fixed with a bit of that pesky "editing" that the editors around here seem to loathe. Nearly every comment I'm reading talks about how the government official was corrupt, but a simple read of the article shows that he in fact REFUSED the bribe. There is no hypocrisy there--he is in charge of monitoring bribery in the government, Samsung attempted to bribe him, he refused it and is now using their attempt in a government case against Samsung. That is EXACTLY what he's supposed to be doing!