Lee Jae-yong's Trial for 'Unfair Merger and Accounting Fraud' to Conclude on the 17th of Next Month (Comprehensive)

The first trial of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on charges of 'unfair merger and accounting fraud' is concluding its three-year hearing and will hold a closing argument session next month. However, it is expected that the verdict will not be delivered within this year.

Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 25-2 (Presiding Judge Park Jeong-je, Judges Ji Gwi-yeon and Park Jeong-gil) designated July 17 as the date for the closing argument session in the trial on charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act against Chairman Lee and others on the 27th. If the closing argument proceeds as scheduled, this case will conclude 3 years and 2 months after the first trial began.

Chairman Lee was indicted in September 2020 on charges including illegal acts in the Samsung C&T-Cheil Industries merger aimed at strengthening group control and ensuring stable succession of management rights. He was also indicted for accounting fraud related to the accounting irregularities of Samsung BioLogics, a subsidiary of Cheil Industries.

On the morning of the closing argument day, the prosecution plans to present sentencing recommendations and reasons for sentencing for Chairman Lee and 14 defendants including former Samsung Electronics Future Strategy Office head Choi Ji-sung and former deputy director Jang Chung-gi.

In the afternoon, the defense attorneys will deliver their final arguments followed by the defendants’ final statements. It is expected that Chairman Lee will personally express his position at this time.

In principle, the verdict is delivered on the day the trial concludes, and if there are special circumstances, it must be scheduled within 14 days. However, in practice, it is usually held about a month after the conclusion of hearings. Given that the prosecution’s investigation records alone amount to 190,000 pages, it is expected that considerable time will be required before the verdict. The possibility of the verdict being announced in early next year cannot be ruled out.

Meanwhile, this day marked the first anniversary of Chairman Lee’s inauguration. Upon arriving at the court in the morning, he did not respond to reporters’ questions about his reflections on the first anniversary and proceeded to the courtroom.

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