Kim, Hyung-A2019-12-052019-12-05http://hdl.handle.net/1885/187445The billionaire heir-apparent to South Korea’s largest family-owned conglomerate or chaebŏl, Samsung Electronics, has been gaoled for five years for bribery and embezzlement, among other charges. Lee Jaeyong, aged 49, also known as Jay Y. Lee, is alleged to have offered or pledged $US 36 million in bribes to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of Park for over forty years, in return for political favours. The court, however, confirmed only South Korean Won (KRW) 7.2 billion ($US 6.8 million) as a bribe designed to win the government’s approval of a controversial merger of two Samsung units so as to increase Lee’s control over the entire Samsung empire. It would have cemented a power transfer from his father, Lee Kun-hee, who has been in a coma since 2014.application/pdfen-AU© ASAA2017-09-192021-12-02