Yesterday the boss Samsung, Jay Y. Lee was detained by South Korean authorities following a hearing in which a request for his preventive arrest was debated. Although South Korean prosecutors asked the judges to pre-arrest Jay Y. Lee, fearing that he could negatively influence them in his absence, the judges had a different opinion.
Jay Y. Lee spent several hours in a detention center yesterday, but was released after the judges decided that he should not be remanded in custody. Jay Y. Lee is the first leader of Samsung who has ever been detained for committing a crime, and the whole situation puts the Samsung company, the largest in South Korea, in an extremely bad light.
In the brief justification of the decision, the South Korean judges claim that the prosecutors investigating the case did not present enough evidence to prove that Jay Y. Lee violated the law. In this idea, they did not consider it necessary to arrest the head of Samsung on this point, nor even to apply any other measures such as house arrest or judicial control.
The Samsung boss will not be arrested, he has been released from prison
Without being remanded in custody, Jay Y. Lee can continue his process of becoming president of the Samsung group's board of directors. This position is currently held by his father, but he has been hospitalized for several months, so Jay Y. Lee took over his duties as vice president of the board of directors.
Jay Y. Lee is being investigated for allegedly bribing the president of South Korea with tens of millions of dollars to facilitate the transfer of power from his father. For now it seems that the evidence of the prosecutors is not strong enough to motivate the arrest of Jay Y. Lee, but it could be enough for him to be convicted.
"The court said there wasn't enough evidence to keep Lee in jail based on the facts presented about alleged payments and other charges. "It is difficult to acknowledge the necessity and justification for an arrest at this stage," Seoul Central District Court Judge Cho Eui-yeon said in a statement early Thursday morning."
Having said that, the head of Samsung, Jay Y. Lee, escaped arrest and prison for the time being.
