Samsung vice chair in court over bribery charges

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-Yong appeared at a court on Monday for 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 ahe despite opposition from some shareholders.

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

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