- The executives were accused of ordering employees to destroy and conceal internal documents
- The episode is the latest legal trouble for Samsung
- Samsung Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee is embroiled in separate trials in a corruption scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye
A South Korean court jailed three executives of Samsung Electronics for their role in a plot that included burying computers under factory floors at its biotech affiliate, in an investigation of alleged accounting fraud.
According to a report by Reuters, prosecutors began investigating the suspected fraud at Samsung Biologics after South Korea’s financial watchdog complained the firm’s value had been inflated by 4.5 trillion won ($3.82 billion) in 2015.
“The boldness of the defendants’ criminal acts was beyond the public’s imagination and stunned society,” Judge Soh Byung-seok said, handing down sentences of up to two years.
“Most South Korean people want Samsung to become the world’s top-class company contributing to the country’s economy,” the judge added. “However, if such growth is based on breaches and unlawfulness, it will not be applauded.”
Latest legal trouble
The episode is the latest legal trouble for South Korea’s top conglomerate, whose leader Jay Y. Lee is embroiled in separate trials in a corruption scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye, reported the news daily. The executives were accused of ordering employees at the biopharmaceutical firm to destroy and conceal internal documents.
Prosecutors also stated that the efforts included inserting nearly two dozen computers and notebooks as well as computer servers in spaces under the floors of Samsung Biologics factories near the capital, Seoul. Civic groups have informed that the alleged fraud aimed to boost the value of Samsung Biologics’ parent Samsung C&T.
