Samsung Chief Lee Jae-young arrested for corruption

A court in South Korea has sentenced Samsung's billionaire heir-apparent Lee Jae-yong to five years in prison for corruption.
Lee was guilty of bribery in a scandal that also saw the impeachment of South Korea's former president.

The case has gripped the public amid growing anger against South Korea's biggest companies, known as chaebols(a Korean name made up of the words "clan" and "wealth", which together mean a massive family-owned empire - and makes up a fifth of the country's GDP). 
Lee, who denied all charges, had faced a jail sentence of up to 12 years.
Also known as Jay Y Lee, the de facto head of the world's largest smartphone maker had been detained since February on a string of corruption charges.
These included bribery, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas.

The 49-year-old is accused of giving donations worth 41bn won ($36m; £29m) to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of South Korea's former President Park Geun-hye, in return for political favors.
Prosecutors said the donations were made to Ms Park's confidante to win government support for a big restructuring of Samsung that would strengthen Lee's control over Samsung Electronics.
But Lee's defence team said that the payments were signed off without his knowledge.
Lee has previously admitted that the firm also gave a horse and money to help the equestrian career of Choi's daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, but denied seeking favors.

Samsung Electronics has apologized to share holders for its role in a corruption case that led to South Korea's President being impeached.

"I'm sorry for the scandal," chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun said at the company's annual meeting in Seoul.
Samsung Group boss Jay Y. Lee is accused of bribing a friend of the former president in return for government support in a deal.
Samsung has said it did not pay bribes in the form of donations, but has pledged to improve its corporate governance.The world largest smart phone maker also addressed the fallout from last year's of the galaxy Note 7."I apologize once again for the mistake with the Note 7 last year.It was a failure that arose from trying new technology,"Mr Kwon said.
The disaster is estimated to have cost Samsung about $6 billion.Samsung Electronics also announced at Friday's meeting that it would not be changing its cooperate structure to use a holding company. The company has been under pressure from investors to simplify its ownership structure."There are negative effects that would arise from transitioning to a holding company, so it does not appear it will be easy to do at present," Mr Kwon said.

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