“Overall Inadequacy” vs “Ensuring Effectiveness”… Special Prosecutor and Lee Jae-yong’s Side in Heated Debate over Compliance Oversight Committee Evaluation

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is attending the retrial hearing on bribery charges related to the state affairs manipulation case at the Seoul High Court on the 21st. Photo by Ki-min Lee victor.lee@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] In the retrial of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on bribery charges related to the state affairs manipulation scandal, a heated debate took place over the evaluations of the Samsung Compliance Committee’s activities by expert advisors.

At the 9th retrial hearing of Vice Chairman Lee held on the 21st under the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Jung Jun-young), the special prosecution team led by Park Young-soo argued regarding the expert evaluation of the Compliance Committee, stating, "The results of this evaluation did not meet the court’s emphasized requirement that the system be of a degree that the group’s head would fear."

The prosecution claimed that Kang Il-won, a former Constitutional Court justice appointed as an expert advisor by the court, found all eight detailed evaluation items directly related to the group’s head to be essentially inadequate. They further emphasized that Kim Kyung-soo, former Daegu High Prosecutor and currently a lawyer, selected by Lee’s defense team, also rated six out of nine items as insufficient. The prosecution then criticized, "It is difficult to recognize this as a mitigating factor reflecting sincere remorse for the crime," and added, "It should rather be considered an aggravating factor, not a favorable one for the defendants."

They also stated, "The recommended sentencing range for Vice Chairman Lee is between 5 years and 16 years and 5 months," and "Even if the effectiveness of the Compliance Committee is acknowledged, it cannot be a reason to impose a sentence of less than 5 years’ imprisonment."

Finally, the prosecution referenced university professors selecting this year’s four-character idiom as 'Asitabi' (我是他非), emphasizing that the application of law should not vary depending on the person.

On the other hand, Lee’s defense team countered that former Justice Kang and lawyer Kim positively evaluated the Compliance Committee’s monitoring activities over top management, and only accountant Hong Soon-tak, recommended by the prosecution, failed to acknowledge Samsung’s efforts at all.

Regarding the effectiveness of the Compliance Committee, Lee’s side argued, "The Compliance Committee handled 333 agenda items over eight months and took action on 129 of them through recommendations and other measures," adding, "Vice Chairman Lee publicly stated before the people that he would guarantee labor union activities and abandon fourth-generation management as recommended by the Compliance Committee."

They also emphasized, "The status of compliance organizations within Samsung affiliates has been strengthened," explaining, "The work organization was separated and organized directly under the board of directors, and all rights to attend and request convening of board meetings were granted, thereby enhancing the status of the compliance organizations."

In particular, they rebutted point by point the criticisms from expert advisors regarding affiliates’ non-compliance with recommendations, potential withdrawal, delayed responses, and insufficient investigation related to the Samsung C&T merger. Regarding the prosecution’s quantification of positive and negative evaluations by item, the defense argued, "The effectiveness and sustainability of the Compliance Committee cannot be evaluated with a simple O or X," and "It is necessary to comprehensively consider the evaluation items."

The court stated, "The effectiveness and sustainability of the Compliance Committee, whether to consider these as sentencing factors, and to what extent if considered, are all matters for the court’s judgment," emphasizing, "The establishment of Samsung’s Compliance Committee is not the sole or most important sentencing factor."

The Compliance Committee became a key issue in the trial after the court indicated in October last year that it would reflect the effective operation of Samsung’s compliance system in Lee’s sentencing.

The court plans to hold the final hearing for Vice Chairman Lee’s retrial on the 30th of this month, where it will hear the final arguments and statements from Lee’s defense and the prosecution, as well as the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation.

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