‘Trial of the century’ puts Samsung heir behind bars

THE heir to mobile phone behemoth samsung has been jailed for five years for corruption following a scandal that gripped south Korea.

Vice-chairman Lee Jae-Yong was found guilty of bribery, perjury and embezzlement in the landmark case dubbed the ‘trial of the century’.

The huge investigation, which saw prosecutors square up to the power of south Korea’s mighty conglomerates and the state, triggered the impeachment of the country’s president Park Geun-hye, who is now on trial herself.

The court found Lee paid £30m to a close friend of Park in exchange for business support.

The bribes meant the state backed a merger between two parts of samsung, which allowed Lee to shore up his position at the company but may have harmed shareholders’ interests. his lawyers are appealing against the verdict.

Fellow samsung executives Jang Choong-Ki and Choi Geesung were also convicted and face four years in prison each.

It throws into chaos plans for Lee to take over from his father, chairman Lee Kun-hee, unable to work since a 2014 heart attack. Despite the meltdown, profits at the nation’s biggest business have been booming.

It pocketed £7.7bn in the second quarter of 2017, snatching Apple’s crown as the world’s most lucrative tech firm.

The company has also battled back from its disaster over the Galaxy Note 7 phone, which had a tendency to explode, forcing samsung to withdraw it.