Lee was last year arrested on charges of bribery in connection with the corruption scandal in Korea surrounding then President Park Geun-hye and her friend Choi Soon-sil. A final appeal can be made to the Supreme Court by both sides. Lee had acted as Samsung’s leader since its chairman, his father, was incapacitated by a heart attack in 2014.
The High Court judges overturned one of Lee’s convictions, that of hiding assets overseas, and lessened the extent of wrongdoing in some of the other counts of which he remained guilty. The court ruled that the bribes paid amounted to about KRW 3.6 billion (USD 3.3 million), below the USD 8.2 million found by a lower court in August last year. The court also said that Samsung’s contributions were made as a result of coercion by Park, who is undergoing a lower court trial and has previously denied wrongdoing. Her lawyers weren’t immediately available for comment.
An attorney for Lee said an appeal would be made to the Supreme Court, to prove his innocence on the remaining charges. Prosecutors, who had sought a 12-year sentence, weren’t immediately available for comment on whether they would appeal the latest decision.
Lee’s release comes just days before the opening of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, of which Samsung is a top-tier sponsor.
