Samsung leader appears in court, waits to hear if he'll be jailed again

Samsung Group’s leader, Jay Y Lee, appeared before a South Korean court yesterday, awaiting a ruling on whether new allegations, including accounting fraud and stock manipulation, will send him back to jail after more than two years of freedom.

Prosecutors last week asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against Lee, culminating a probe into a controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates that they said helped facilitate Lee’s plan to assume greater control of the group.

The risk of more jail time for Lee, who has led the group since his father’s heart attack in 2014, has cast a pall over the conglomerate and its crown jewel, Samsung Electronics Co, whose annual revenue alone is equivalent to 12 percent of South Korea’s GDP.

Lee, 51, wearing a face mask and a dark suit, appeared at the Seoul court for a hearing that began at 10:30am and ended more than eight hours later around 7pm. The Samsung Electronics vice chairman did not answer media questions.

After the hearing, he headed to a detention center to await the decision on whether he will be arrested, expected early today.

The court can then order Lee be detained for 20 days while prosecutors proceed with investigations.