Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong convicted, fined for anaesthetic misuse
- Multi-billionaire Lee Jae-yong, vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, was fined US$60,000 by a Seoul court for illegally using propofol
- An overdose of the drug, which is normally used as a medical anaesthetic, was given as the cause of pop star Michael Jackson’s death in 2009
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The sum is around 0.0006 per cent of his estimated US$10.2 billion fortune.
He was found guilty of having repeatedly taken the anaesthetic at a plastic surgery clinic in Seoul over several years.
Usage is normally seen as a minor offence in South Korea and prosecutors originally proposed fining him 50 million won under a summary indictment, a procedure where less serious cases do not go to court.
But the court overruled the prosecution and ordered a trial.
“The quantity injected is very high and the nature of crime committed is not light considering the social responsibility the defendant bears,” said judge Jang Young-chae.
“But he has confessed to the injection and has never been convicted of this crime before.”
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He fined Lee 70 million won and ordered him to forfeit 17 million won in assets, urging him to “adopt exemplary behaviour that your children will not be embarrassed by”.
Wearing a dark business suit and a face mask, Lee remained tight-lipped as he entered the courthouse, skipping questions from reporters.
When his trial opened earlier this month, he apologised to the court “for causing such trouble and concern due to my personal matter”, but insisted the injection was “for medical purposes”.
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Though the financial penalty is insignificant for the 53-year-old, the propofol case has been something of a public relations embarrassment for Samsung and Lee, who has been mired in legal issues including a sprawling corruption scandal, for five years.
The early release was seen as the latest example of South Korea freeing on economic grounds business leaders imprisoned for corruption or tax evasion.
