Lee Jae-yong's Side: "Prosecutors' Excessive Indictment, Completely Unacceptable" (Update)

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is entering the courtroom to attend the warrant hearing held on June 8 at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] The prosecution's decision to indict Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on allegations of illegal succession of management rights has been met with criticism from Lee's legal team, who stated that the prosecution made an incomprehensible decision not based on evidence or legal principles.

On the 1st, the Economic Crime Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted Lee without detention on charges including unfair trading and market manipulation under the Capital Markets Act, as well as breach of duty. Ten other Samsung officials, including former Samsung Future Strategy Office head (Vice Chairman) Choi Ji-sung and former Future Strategy Office Strategy Team leader (President) Kim Jong-jung, were also brought to trial.

This comes one year and nine months after the Securities and Futures Commission reported Samsung Biologics to the prosecution for accounting fraud on November 20, 2018. Previously, the prosecution's investigation review committee concluded that the investigation into Lee was inappropriate, but the prosecution ultimately proceeded with the indictment.

Lee's legal team immediately rebutted the prosecution's indictment. In a statement released that day, the defense emphasized, "The charges in this case, including violations of the Capital Markets Act, accounting fraud, and breach of duty, are unilateral claims by the investigation team not based on evidence or legal principles and are absolutely not true."

The defense explained that through pre-arrest suspect hearings and court rulings in several related cases filed by speculative funds such as Elliott, it has been confirmed that the Samsung C&T merger was a legitimate business activity carried out for management needs such as compliance with government regulations, stabilizing uncertain management rights, and achieving business synergy.

They added that all procedures during the merger process were judged to have been conducted lawfully, objectively confirming that the prosecution's claims cannot be regarded as crimes.

The defense stated, "Even the prosecution's investigation review committee, composed of experts and ordinary citizens, carefully examined the claims and evidence from both the investigation team and the defense from a third-party perspective, and overwhelmingly decided by a 10 to 3 majority that this case could not be prosecuted and ordered the investigation to be stopped."

They noted that the investigation review committee's judgment represents the people's judgment, and while the prosecution has respected all eight previous decisions by the committee, it is difficult to understand why the prosecution insisted on indicting only this case.

The defense also claimed, "The defendants, who trusted the prosecution's fair decision-making process and tried to protect their rights during that process, find it utterly incomprehensible and unacceptable," and "Furthermore, the breach of duty charge, which was never even mentioned during the warrant request or the investigation review committee's deliberation, was abruptly added during the indictment process."

They continued, "The investigation team requested an arrest warrant when applying for the investigation review committee, and when the committee overwhelmingly decided to stop the investigation and not prosecute, the team added the breach of duty charge, which was not even submitted to the committee, repeatedly compounding their overreach," adding, "This attitude of the investigation team can only be seen as conducting the investigation with the predetermined goal of indicting Samsung Group and Lee Jae-yong, rather than seeking the substantive truth based on evidence."

Finally, they stated, "The defendants will sincerely participate in the trial and reveal one by one in court why the prosecution's indictment is unjust," and "Although many difficulties are expected for Samsung Group and the defendants due to this indictment, we will strive to overcome the current challenges without wavering and contribute as members of society."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.