Samsung vice chair in court over bribery charges

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-Yong appeared at a court on Monday for the first time in ten months for a hearing in his ongoing bribery trial.

Lee was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 for offering 8.6 billion won (7 million US dollars) in bribes to former South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and one of her longtime confidants while seeking government support for a 2015 merger.

It went ahead despite opposition from some shareholders.

Lee was freed in February 2018 after the Seoul High Court reduced his term to 2 and half years and suspended his sentence, overturning key convictions.

However, months later the Supreme Court sent the case back to the High Court, saying that the number of bribes Lee was judged to have offered was undervalued.