South Korea’s Supreme Court orders retrial for Samsung heir Jay Y Lee

South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday overturned part of an appeals court ruling in the bribery case of Samsung Group’s de facto chief, Jay Y Lee, who had been given a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for seeking favour from the country’s former President Park Geun-hye.

The Supreme Court said the interpretation by the Seoul High Court on what constituted bribes by Samsung to Park was too narrow.

Lee, 51, was initially handed a five-year jail sentenced in 2017 for bribing a friend of Park’s as he sought to succeed his father and secure control of the Samsung Group.