THE jailed de facto leader of the giant Samsung group walked free on parole today, the latest instance of South Korea’s long tradition of freeing business leaders imprisoned for corruption or tax evasion on economic grounds.

Lee Jae-yong – the 202nd richest person in the world according to Forbes, with a net worth of US$11.4 billion (RM47 billion) – was serving a two-and-a-half year prison sentence imposed in January for bribery, embezzlement and other offences in connection with the corruption scandal that brought down ex-South Korean president Park Geun-hye.

But calls for his early release from both politicians and business leaders grew in recent months over what they claimed was a possible leadership vacuum at the South’s biggest conglomerate.

The justice ministry announced Monday he had been paroled – among around 800 early releases –  citing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the economy.

Lee, 53, bowed to reporters waiting outside a detention centre south of Seoul and told them: “I have caused too much concern to the people. I’m really sorry.”

Wearing a black suit, he added: “I’m listening carefully to your worries, criticisms, concerns, and high expectations about me. I will do my best,” before he was driven away in a black limousine.

Lee was first jailed for five years in 2017, after Park’s ouster, then walked free the following year when an appeals court dismissed most of his bribery convictions and gave him a suspended sentence.

But the Supreme Court later ordered Lee to face a retrial, which convicted and jailed him again.

His parole is not the end of his legal travails: he remains on trial over alleged stock manipulation that effectively eased his path to take control of the family conglomerate – the same purpose for which he was convicted of bribing Park.

Song Won-keun, an economics professor at Gyeongsang National University, told AFP: “This is undeniably preferential treatment, especially given that a separate trial is still going on.”

There is a long history of top South Korean tycoons being charged with bribery, embezzlement, tax evasion, or other offences.

But many of those convicted have subsequently had their sentences cut or suspended on appeal, with some – including Lee’s father, the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was convicted twice – receiving presidential pardons in recognition of their “contribution to the national economy”.

The presidential Blue House insisted Lee’s parole was a decision “made for the national interest”.

“We hope fellow citizens can also understand,” a Blue House official told reporters. – AFP, August 13, 2021.