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Samsung Chief Charged With Bribery and Embezzlement (npr.org)

Posted by BeauHD on from the actions-have-consequences dept.

After a three-month investigation, the acting head of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, has been charged with bribery and embezzlement in connection with the corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's president Park Geun-hye. NPR reports: NPR's Elise Hu reported from Seoul that prosecutors announced the indictment after a three-month investigation: "Samsung acting head Lee Jae-Yong got ensnared after documents showed Samsung funneled some $36 million to the president's close confidant. Prosecutors say the money was paid to win government support of a controversial 2015 company merger. The merger did go through, after a vote of support from the government. In a statement, Samsung says it has not paid bribes or made improper requests to the government. Lee is currently in jail awaiting further proceedings in his case." Lee was arrested on Feb. 17, two months after President Park Geun-hye was impeached over allegations of corruption, influence-peddling and cult ties, as we reported. Those corruption allegations were directly tied to the charges brought against Lee, who also goes by the name Jay Y. Lee.

22 comments

  1. Noooooo by sit1963nz · · Score: 1

    A company with the integrity that Samsung has..... I don't believe it /S

    1. Re:Noooooo by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      You kind of missed the point. This is a story about proper investigation and prosecution of high level corruption. All those involved in the investigation are to be congratulated and invited to practice in other countries like the US, especially the US. How many global problems would be solved by a US administration that finally tried to tackle high level corruption in the US which is the worst in the world and the most destructive in the world, USA number 1, with an exceptionally corrupt government, an exceptionally corrupt main stream media and an exceptionally corrupt military industrial complex and an exceptionally corrupt US Federal Reserve and exceptionally corrupt financial institutions and to cap it all off an exceptionally corrupt Department of in-Justice. Saw some light at the end of the tunnel and then it chickened out floppy wig and all, not a problem, not a reformist, then lose all support.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  2. Just drop off the key, Lee by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    And get yourself free http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics...

  3. South Korea amazes me by tietokone-olmi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here we have a well-industrialized country with megacorporations aplenty and relatively free mixing between political and economic power, where yet the judicial and executive branches are at all able (even if unwillingly, forced by the crowds) to take on corruption at the level of the president, and some of the largest megacorporations in the area -- if not the world.

    Hats off. I expected this investigation to whitewash anyone with any power.

    1. Re:South Korea amazes me by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Informative

      A lot of this has to do directly with need and desire to show the world that it's going directly after corrupt practices. There have been a lot of problems over the last 15 years, some of them not so bad, some of them very bad. Whether it's at a government level or at a business level. S.Korea passed new anti-graft and anti-corruption laws ~2 years ago directly targeting that because it had started moving in the direction of Chinese corruption. If you want to read on some of the stuff you can look here. There's also summaries on the differences on how corruption is considered there, compared to North America or Europe. Including the lower burden of proofs required, allowing for auditors and investigators to launch investigations into businesses or government at what would be considered circumstantial here in NA or EU. And allowing the use of CFE's(forensic accountants) for those investigations.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    2. Re:South Korea amazes me by tietokone-olmi · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the link.

    3. Re:South Korea amazes me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It could have happened in America too if the 2016 election result had gone the other way. Just look at the zeal with which the Republicans were chasing Bengazi and the private email server. While part of me is happy that corruption is finally being dealt with, another part of me is sad that the real reason behind the sudden crackdown is the old-boys network of politics closing ranks against an outsider.

    4. Re:South Korea amazes me by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      A lot of this has to do directly with need and desire to show the world that it's going directly after corrupt practices. There have been a lot of problems over the last 15 years, some of them not so bad, some of them very bad. Whether it's at a government level or at a business level. S.Korea passed new anti-graft and anti-corruption laws ~2 years ago directly targeting that because it had started moving in the direction of Chinese corruption. If you want to read on some of the stuff you can look here. There's also summaries on the differences on how corruption is considered there, compared to North America or Europe. Including the lower burden of proofs required, allowing for auditors and investigators to launch investigations into businesses or government at what would be considered circumstantial here in NA or EU. And allowing the use of CFE's(forensic accountants) for those investigations.

      Still. Here in the West. We hardly ever just instigate the disappearance of folks when we suspect they might be up to something.

      "It's better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted" or arrested, or charged...

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    5. Re:South Korea amazes me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      About them Corporations.. Good luck about going after them!

    6. Re:South Korea amazes me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the current POTUS has a higher likelihood of being impeached.

    7. Re:South Korea amazes me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is also a matter of politics of power. South Korea isn't an old country. It has a history of several thousands of years and belonged to many empires. It was always part of an empire with an aristocracy that ruled the country, a family that held all power or a single leader if it wasn't occupied as a colony. The western style democracy is only 20-30 years old. It is easy for such a country to move back to an aristocratic system.

      Just look at Russia. It became the first Democratic Socialist paradise but it was a totalitarian system until it collapsed in the early nineties. The communist system was replaced by a western democratic republic with the help of the west, but yet it is still run with a dictator like leader. The same happened in Germany. From Holy Roman Empire to a collection of monarchies to a united empire until World War 1. The Weimar republic was democratic but could never from a true majority coalition and in less than a decade it turned to another totalitarian socialist regime. Now with the political crisis and the rise of right wing parties you see that Germans again tend to choose one leader parties, unlike for example Britain were the protest party was led by someone like Nigel Farrage who never attempted to rule Britain but just wanted the UK out of the EU (or Boris Johnson). The UKIP only wanted to restore democracy because they thought that an EU with Germany would slowly lead to a totalitarian system (it doesn't matter if you agree with them or not, they managed the one thing they wanted to achieve).
       
      It is good to see that something is done against the corruption of such a powerful family. Hopefully it is really an attempt to stop corruption and not some family who tries to consolidate or increase its power by such actions.

    8. Re:South Korea amazes me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This guy's old man has been convicted of corruption twice, and pardoned twice. We'll see what comes of this. I'll bet Samsung keeps on rolling, business as usual, well hopefully excluding incendiary phones.

    9. Re:South Korea amazes me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After the war Korea was full of beggars and many died of hunger, and so they tried so hard to get better living. In a very short period of time. It was like in about 20 years of time. And there are many consequences.

  4. Explosive news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I was blown away by this

    1. Re:Explosive news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah he should be fired!

    2. Re:Explosive news by OhSoLaMeow · · Score: 1

      I was blown away by this

      I'm surprised he wasn't charged with battery.

      --
      They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
    3. Re:Explosive news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah he should be fired!

      He will be not be a flaming success, that's for sure.

  5. USAian here by rmdingler · · Score: 2
    On the one hand, I find the thought of CEO's of powerful companies, being held accountable for misdeeds, a refreshing concept.

    On the other, I marvel at the sophistication with which most western democracies operate under; the tried and true, rather open, bribery system that is campaign contributions at virtually any level.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  6. Samsung about 25 years ahead of American corps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Samsung Tech Support: You call them, A HUMAN answers, they ALREADY KNOW WHO YOU ARE, and they actual help you.

    American Tech Support: You call them, AVR answers, which has generation old voice recognition, you press 0 for operator but the feature is disabled, you keep saying "OTHER or REPRESENTATIVE" , system might actually hang up on you! If your lucky to get put on hold with, after some time you then have to prove your identity with account numbers, pins, or a series of "security questions". The representatives are under trained with slow computer system and then you must be placed on hold to speak to a supervisor who may or may not be able to help.

  7. Bribery and Embezzlement! by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why didn't they charge him with battery?

    1. Re:Bribery and Embezzlement! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because you can't charge a Samsung battery to begin with; they just catch on fire.

  8. Samsung by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    Considering Samsung's history, this should be hardly be surprising. Though presidential involvement is a bit, at least in the regard that anything was done about it. Just off the top of my head I can think of two Samsung scandals in the recent past about price fixing and collusion once for memory chips, and another time for LCD's...