The former head of South Korea’s biggest business group Samsung went on trial yesterday for tax evasion and breach of trust, less than two months after stepping down in the wake of a corruption probe.
Former chairman Lee Kun-hee accepted blame for any ethical lapses during his two decades at the helm of the group, which employs 200,000 people and accounted for more than 20 percent of the nation’s exports last year.
“All the lapses rest with me and I take full responsibility,” he said in an opening statement to a Seoul district court, appealing for leniency for seven codefendants.
COMPETITION
“I have been rushing forward without looking around over the past 20 years in the belief that I had to win the struggle against foreign competitors,” said Lee, 66, who was not asked to enter a formal plea.
Special prosecutors charged him on April 17 after a three-month probe into corruption allegations against the multinational. He quit the group later that month.
Prosecutors cleared Lee of bribery, the main claim made by a former Samsung chief lawyer turned whistleblower who had prompted parliament to call for the inquiry.
Lee could technically face life in prison if convicted. But most other South Korean tycoons brought to court on criminal charges have escaped severe punishment, with judges citing a negative impact on the economy.
The key point at issue in the trial is whether Lee had instigated and planned the controversial transfer of control over the group from him to his son Lee Jae-yong.
Previous court rulings found that executives arranged for the son to acquire control of Everland, Samsung’s de facto holding company, at a below-market price in the mid-1990s through the issue of low-priced convertible bonds.
Lee senior was charged with breach of trust over the transfer, with prosecutors citing the “remarkably low price” set for the bonds.
CONSPIRACY?
Lee’s lawyers say there was no conspiracy when the junior Lee acquired Everland and the son was the only person wishing to acquire the bonds.
Lee Kun-hee is also charged with evading a capital gains tax bill of 112.8 billion won (US$110 million).
The special prosecutors found that 1,199 borrowed-name accounts were used to make profits from the sale of shares in Samsung Electronics and other affiliates, and that 112.8 billion won worth of taxes was evaded.
They also said Lee’s hidden assets amount to 4.5 trillion won but added that no evidence of a bribery slush fund, as claimed by the whistleblower, had emerged.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat