Prosecutors vs. Defense Ahead of Lee Jae-yong Trial... Full-Scale Battle Expected

Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Photo by Jang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporters Seokjin Choi and Gyeonghwan Bae] As the case involving Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and others has been assigned to a three-judge panel of equal standing, both the prosecution and Samsung have formed special trial teams and powerful legal defense teams, signaling an all-out battle in the trial.

As of the 4th, the number of defense attorneys for Vice Chairman Lee confirmed through the court's website is approximately 20.

Samsung’s side, including Vice Chairman Lee, has organized a defense team composed of veteran lawyers from the courts and prosecution. Major law firms such as Kim & Chang, Bae, Kim & Lee (BKL), Sejong, and HwaWoo have also participated in large numbers.

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong Forms a 20-Member Defense Team Mainly Composed of Former Judges and Prosecutors

Among former prosecutors, Kim Ki-dong, former Busan District Prosecutor’s Office Chief (Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 21), Lee Dong-yeol, former Seoul Western District Prosecutor’s Office Chief (Class 22), and Choi Yoon-soo, former 2nd Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service (Class 22), who were considered leading ‘special investigation experts’ during their prosecutorial careers, will continue to defend Vice Chairman Lee throughout the trial following the investigation phase.

Additionally, Kim Hee-gwan, former head of the Judicial Research and Training Institute (Class 17), Hong Ki-chae (Class 28) of the law firm Dajeon, and Kim Hyung-wook (Class 31), a former researcher at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Central Investigation Department and currently with the law firm M, are also participating.

From the judiciary, Han Seung, former Jeonju District Court Chief Judge (Class 17) and former senior judicial research officer at the Supreme Court who was urgently assigned during Vice Chairman Lee’s warrant hearing, Ahn Jeong-ho (Class 21), a former Supreme Court judicial research officer now with Kim & Chang, and Kim Hyun-bo (Class 27), who served as an ethics auditor at the Court Administration Office, have been deployed.

Shin Woo-jin (Class 30) of Kim & Chang, who as a sole judge in 2003 posed sharp questions such as “With what money do you play golf?” to former President Chun Doo-hwan during the property disclosure trial, has also been named to the defense team.

Other defendants, including former Future Strategy Office Chief Choi Ji-sung and Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han, have also formed defense teams centered around former judicial officials affiliated with Kim & Chang.

On the other hand, former Executive Vice Chairman Jang Choong-ki has retained the law firm Bae, Kim & Lee, forming a defense team led by Jang Sang-gyun (Class 19), former Administrative Court Chief Judge and former Supreme Court judicial research officer.

Choi Jae-kyung (Class 17), former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House and former head of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Central Investigation Department, who currently serves as Samsung Electronics’ legal counsel, has not formally submitted a power of attorney but is expected to oversee the overall trial of this case.

Prosecution Deploys Entire Investigation Team to Special Trial Team 2... Participates in Prosecution Maintenance

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on the previous day assigned all eight prosecutors from the Economic Crime Criminal Division, who handled the investigation of Vice Chairman Lee and others, to Special Trial Team 2.

Except for Lee Bok-hyun, former head of the Economic Crime Criminal Division who recently transferred, and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Choi Jae-hoon, all members will participate in prosecution maintenance.

While it has happened in the past that team leaders or deputy team leaders who led investigations in major cases appeared in court to participate in prosecution maintenance, it is unprecedented for the entire investigation team to be deployed for prosecution maintenance.

This indicates how much effort the prosecution is putting into proving guilt in this case.

With a prosecution maintenance team of nine members, including Kim Young-chul, Special Trial Team 2 Chief who also participated in Samsung-related investigations, Vice Chief Prosecutor Lee, who was transferred to the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office, plans to travel between Seoul and Daejeon to support prosecution maintenance.

Case Assigned to Equal Standing Panel Currently Handling Professor Jeong Gyeong-shim’s Trial... Presiding Judge Im Jeong-yeop, Lead Judge Kwon Seong-su

Meanwhile, the court assigned the case involving Vice Chairman Lee and others to Criminal Division 25-2 (Presiding Judges Im Jeong-yeop, Kwon Seong-su, Kim Seon-hee), which specializes in economic cases, on the previous day.

This panel is an equal standing panel without distinction between presiding and associate judges and is currently handling the trial of Professor Jeong Gyeong-shim of Dongyang University.

As Professor Jeong’s trial is nearing completion, the panel is expected to focus on the trial of Vice Chairman Lee and others going forward.

Presiding Judge Im Jeong-yeop previously presided over the first trial of the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014, sentencing Captain Lee Jun-seok to 36 years in prison. The lead judge for this case is Judge Kwon Seong-su.

From before indictment, there have been sharply divided opinions among the prosecution, Samsung, and legal and accounting experts on issues such as whether the breach of duty by directors against shareholders is established, whether Samsung BioLogics’ call option accounting was indeed illegal, and whether the documents presented by the prosecution can be considered evidence of Vice Chairman Lee’s instructions or conspiracy. Therefore, a fierce legal battle is expected during the trial.

In particular, from the first pretrial conference discussing evidence and witness acceptance, a power struggle between the prosecution and Samsung is highly likely.

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