(Photo : Getty Images: Chung Sung-Jun / Staff)
Samsung heir bribery scandal, vice president Lee Jae-Yong, is going back to jail, putting doubt on the future of leadership at the big tech firm.
Lee Jae Yong, the Samsung heir, was sentenced by a high court in South Korea to two years and six months in jail.
The bribery case is a retrial of an earlier one involving the former president of the nation, Park Geun-Hye, who was also jailed for corruption and bribery scandal.
READ: Stimulus Bill Includes $25 Billion in Rental Assistance. Are You Qualified? Here's How to Apply
Since 2014, Lee has been the de facto head of Samsung Electronics. The decision will likely have consequences for the future of his job at the tech giant.
The Seoul High Court found Lee guilty of bribery scandal with then-President Park Geun-Hye and her close confidante in a much-anticipated retrial to gain government support for a 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates that helped reinforce his control of the largest business group in the world.
In a controversy that has followed Samsung for years, this is the new twist with bribery. Lee, also known as Jay Y. Lee, was caught up in a vast bribery scandal and influence-peddling that brought down former South Korean President Park Geun-administration. Hye's In connection with the case, Park herself has spent some two decades in jail.
The return of Lee to jail comes at a critical time for Samsung's heir. Last year, his father, Lee Kun-hee, the company's chairman, died. Since suffering a heart attack in 2014, the elder Lee has been comatose but remained its incumbent chairman. His son served as the de facto head of Samsung.
Samsung refused to comment on the conviction, referring instead to a statement from Lee's lawyers.
Experts claim the phrase could build a void of leadership and delay Samsung's decision-making on large-scale future investments.
"It's really a huge blow and a big crisis for Samsung," Kim Dae-jong, a business professor at Sejong University, told news agency AFP.
When his father, Lee Kun-hee, was hospitalized following a heart attack in 2014, Lee, as Samsung heir, took over management of the company.
ALSO READ: Tearful Pelosi: Congress Members Who Were Accomplices to Capitol Siege May Be Prosecuted
Last year, the elder Lee died, leading to rumors that Samsung would shake up as his heirs could be pushed into asset sales or dividend payments to cover a large inheritance tax bill.
If he so wishes, Lee can appeal, but it was not immediately clear if he plans to do so.
Lee's legal troubles, especially with the bribery scandal, are not over yet either. He faces a separate trial over a contentious merger in 2015 that helped him tighten its influence. Last year, eleven Samsung heir and executives, including Lee, were arrested on charges, including fraudulent transactions, stock manipulation, and perjury.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said at a news conference on Monday that he has no immediate plans to offer presidential pardons to Park and another jailed former president, Lee Myung-bak, serving a 17-year corruption sentence.
"The idea of pardoning former presidents for the sake of "national reconciliation" has been supported by Conservative leaders and some Moon's liberal party members as the highly divided population of the country approaches the presidential elections in March 2022.
