Ex-Samsung boss gets suspended sentence

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

SEOUL (AFP) — Former Samsung group chairman Lee Kun-Hee was given a suspended prison sentence Wednesday for tax evasion, but a South Korean court cleared him of the more serious charge of breach of trust.

Lee, who quit the nation's biggest business group in April following a corruption probe, was also fined 110 billion won (109 million dollars).

"His wrongdoing is not serious enough to merit an actual prison term," said Judge Min Byung-Hoon in his ruling at Seoul Central District Court.

"It is difficult to say that the defendant committed breach of trust" in connection with the murky transfer of corporate control to his son and heir apparent Jae-Yong, the judge said.

A special prosecutor had last week demanded a seven-year sentence for Lee, 66, who...