The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, regarding the "Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries merger case" on the 17th of next month. Lee was acquitted of all 19 charges in the appellate trial last February. Previously, the same conclusion was reached in the first trial last year.
Samsung Group merged the two companies under the condition of exchanging one share of Cheil Industries for three shares of Samsung C&T in 2015. The prosecution argued that this merger ratio determination was made excessively to ensure Lee's stable succession of management rights, infringing on the interests of shareholders, and indicted Lee and the management in September 2020. The 19 charges applied to Lee by the prosecution are extensive.
The first trial found Lee not guilty on all 19 charges. The court stated that there was insufficient basis to accept the prosecution's charges. In particular, the court did not recognize the evidential value of the 18 terabytes of backup servers confiscated by the prosecution related to allegations of accounting fraud involving Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis.
The second trial also deemed all 19 charges against Lee as not guilty. The ruling stated, "The evidence secured by the prosecution through search and seizure regarding Samsung Bioepis and Biologics servers lacks evidential value, and the new evidence submitted in the appellate trial also lacks evidential value."
This case was heard by the Supreme Court's third division (with presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) due to an appeal by the prosecution. When the Supreme Court delivers its ruling on the 17th of next month, it will mark four years and ten months since Lee was indicted.