Appeal on Samsung boss ruling

Source: Agencies  |   2008-10-17  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

SPECIAL prosecutors have appealed a court ruling acquitting Samsung's former chairman on breach of trust charges, an official said yesterday.

Special prosecutors filed the appeal to the Seoul High Court earlier in the day, though the case will be heard by the Supreme Court, the official said.

He spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to speak to the media on this subject.

The move came days after the Seoul High Court upheld a lower court decision that acquitted former Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee on breach of trust charges.

Those charges stemmed from allegations of dubious financial transactions purportedly aimed at transferring corporate control from Lee to his son.

The Seoul High Court also reaffirmed a suspended prison sentence for Lee on a tax evasion conviction handed down by the lower court at the same time it acquitted him on breach of trust.

Samsung said it would make an announcement today on whether to file its own appeal.

The Samsung conglomerate consists of dozens of companies and has interests in electronics, shipbuilding, construction and life insurance.

The group accounts for up to 20 percent of South Korea's exports by some estimates.

Lee, an iconic business figure in South Korea and one of the country's richest men, is widely credited over the past two decades with turning Samsung Electronics Co, the group's flagship, into a global technology giant.

Lee was indicted in April following a probe by special prosecutors into allegations of wrongdoing aired by a former Samsung lawyer last year.

The indictment prompted Lee to step down.