Engadget, The Wall Street Journal and others are reporting today that convicted white collar criminal, Lee Kun-hee, is to return to head up Samsung Electronics.
Mr Lee is the son of the founder of Samsung and was fined $109 million for tax evasion by Korean courts in 2008. A favorable decision when you consider that prosecutors sought a seven-year jail sentence and a fine of $347 million.
Lee Kun-hee, is the disgraced former chairman of the Samsung Group and is returning to the chaebol as the head of Samsung Electronics which is Samsung’s largest division.
Lee Kun-hee is the man convicted of tax evasion only to be pardoned, twice, by South Korean presidents with all jail time deferred. His latest pardon was issued so that he could help South Korea win a bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Mr Lee played the fear card in announcing the reason for his return “[The] best companies in the world are collapsing. We don’t know what is going to happen to Samsung too. In the coming 10 years, businesses and products that represent Samsung today will mostly disappear.”
Never mind that analysts are predicting the most profitable year ever for Samsung Electronics.
Apparently Mr Lee has also been convicted of bribery and Samsung has also been known to resort to bribery to get its way as, according to reports a probe was commenced in 2008 also into accusations that the electronics-maker is responsible for a slush fund used to bribe influential prosecutors, judges, and political figures.
Kim Yong-chul, a former legal affairs official at Samsung, claimed that the conglomerate used some 200 billion won ($215 million) to fund various shady dealings.
Samsung, nice people to deal with… or perhaps not.
