In This Article:
(Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. heir Jay Y. Lee returned to court Friday to answer bribery charges that could land him in jail, only to sit through a lecture about how he can better run Korea’s largest company.
Lee should study how U.S. companies establish systems to prevent crime and take inspiration from how Israeli businesses drive innovation through reform, said Chung June Young, the judge presiding over the case. The heir apparent to the world’s largest maker of smartphones and chips listened attentively but didn’t take the stand. Dressed in a somber black suit with a gray tie, the tech mogul leaned toward the podium as the judge delivered his comments to a packed courtroom in Seoul.
Three years after explosive allegations of graft and corruption brought down the government of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, South Korea’s chaebol culture has again come under the microscope. The retrial of Korea’s best-known billionaire over expanded corruption charges reboots a landmark case that led to the impeachment of then-president Park Geun-hye and inflamed popular anger over the power of Korean conglomerates, also known as chaebols. The charges, which Samsung and Lee have previously denied, threaten to potentially throw Lee back in jail.
“If only Samsung’s internal compliance system was such that even the company’s leader would fear it, then not only the defendant but also President Park and Choi Seo-won could not have thought of the crime,” the judge said, referring to a confidante of Park’s who became central to the case. “As the head of a company representing our country, I hope you will feel responsible and humbly accept the results of this trial.”
The latest chapter in the legal drama is kicking off at a sensitive time for the half-century-old tech behemoth. Samsung is confronting heightened uncertainty from a lingering trade war between the U.S. and China as well as a spat between South Korea and Japan, both of which complicate its outlook and supply chain. A rising tide of technology like fifth-generation mobile networks and artificial intelligence is also opening up new opportunities for eager Chinese rivals, who are spending lavishly to catch up to Samsung and its cash-cow businesses of semiconductor and display manufacturing.
Read more: The Never-Ending Trial Between a Billionaire Heir and His Nation
The judge at times waxed lyrical in his exposition on Friday. In his closing remarks, Chung invoked the company’s 1993 Frankfurt Declaration crafted by Lee’s father, then-Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee. The elder Lee’s blueprint to transform Samsung from a lowly cellphone maker into an industry leader is now studied in business classes across the country.