Samsung heir freed from S Korea jail
Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong has been
freed from jail after a South Korean court suspended his five year jail
term for bribing the country's ex-president.
An appeals court upheld parts of the conviction, but used its discretion to release the executive.
The decision is likely to be appealed again to the country's supreme court.
The
case gripped the public amid growing anger against the country's
biggest companies, known as chaebols, and their influence on wider
society.
Scandal
Last year a
lower court jailed Lee for corruption in a political scandal that
ultimately brought down former President Park Geun-hye.
The
Samsung Electronics vice chairman, who is also known as Jay Y Lee, had
appealed against both the verdict and sentence. He had been convicted of
a range of offences including bribery and embezzlement.
The scandal exposed the ties between family-run conglomerates and political powers.
Samsung
Electronics is regarded as the jewel in the crown of the Samsung Group
conglomerate, which is made up of 60 interlinked companies.
Lee,
49, has effectively directed operations at the mobile phone and chip
maker since his father, Lee Kun-hee, was incapacitated by a heart attack
in 2014.
BBC
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