Samsung faces growing uncertainty due to prolonged ‘headquarters judicial risk’… Jaeyong Lee goes abroad two days after trial

Samsung embarrassed by judicial risk
Empower the CEO and prepare for the worst.
Supply chain instability, high technology competition fierce
Lee Jae-yong leaves the country a day early for presidential visit

The first trial in the illegal succession of management rights and accounting fraud case of Samsung Electronics Chairman Jae-Yong Lee (55), which has been going on for over three years, is nearing its conclusion, but there is confusion and a confused atmosphere within Samsung, where the possibility of a ‘head vacuum’ becoming a reality cannot be ruled out. It is detected. Even if the court decides in favor of Chairman Lee, if the prosecution files an appeal, it may take up to 3 to 4 more years for the Supreme Court to issue a final ruling, which inevitably prolongs judicial risk.

According to the business world on the 19th, the court’s first judgment regarding Chairman Lee’s suspicion of illegal succession will be made on January 26th next year. The trial, which lasted 3 years and 1 month starting with the first trial preparation date in October 2020, concluded with the final hearing on the 17th, leaving only the sentencing.

While the prosecution sought 5 years in prison and a fine of 500 million won for Chairman Lee, who is accused of violating the Capital Markets Act, it was difficult to predict what result the court, which entered into a prison sentence, would deliver, so Samsung was on thin ice for more than two months until the sentencing. It appears that the walking atmosphere will continue. Although reshuffling of the president and executives is scheduled for next month, it is expected that the company will prepare for the worst-case scenario by organizing the organization with stable personnel changes rather than unexpected ones and empowering the CEOs of affiliates.

Samsung has not been free from the CEO’s judicial risk since the government corruption scandal broke out in 2016. In December of that year, as Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo’s team began investigating the government corruption case, Chairman Lee was also included in the investigation.

Since then, Chairman Lee has been investigated and tried for eight years. He has been summoned to the special prosecutor and prosecutors a total of 10 times due to suspicions of manipulation of state affairs and illegal succession. He went to court 83 times, from the first trial of government corruption to the remand trial, and also attended 95 trials related to suspicions of illegal succession that were held 106 times. With only 178 court appearances, it was like being stranded in ‘Seocho-dong’.

Chairman Lee also said in his final statement two days ago, “So many things have happened since my father collapsed when I was in my mid-40s. “Personally, I went through three warrant substantive examinations and was imprisoned for 1 year and 6 months,” he said, adding, “I am now in my mid-50s and here I am, with the first trial concluding,” and expressed his frustration as he looked back on the past years. did.

As the trial continues, no significant ‘message’ has been released for a year since he took office as chairman, and the return to the board of directors, which is necessary for responsible management, is being postponed. Although the semiconductor industry, the main business, is coming out of a long tunnel of recession, uncertainties such as global supply chain instability and high-tech competition still remain.

It seems that Chairman Lee’s appeal for leniency in court, saying, “It is not possible to know exactly what is happening in advance in advance,” stemmed from this sense of crisis.

On this day, the 36th anniversary of Samsung founder Lee Byung-cheol’s death, Chairman Lee is known to have departed for London, England, on a chartered plane a day early ahead of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s visit to the UK and France.

Reporter Kim Heon-ju