The pardon granted Tuesday, December 27 to the former conservative president, Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013), divides South Korean opinion. The current head of state, Yoon Seok-youl, also a conservative, validated the list proposed by the Ministry of Justice for the traditional remission measure at the end of the year. In addition to Mr. Lee, it benefited several personalities close to conservative circles sentenced to heavy prison terms. It was to be effective Wednesday.
“Preferential pardons that betray people’s expectations and affect national unity should be prohibited. The unjust abuse of power is a sin that harms the sovereignty of the people and democracy.”thundered Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, the main opposition party.
Former executive of the giant Hyundai Engineering & Construction, later mayor of Seoul, Lee Myung-bak, alias LMB, was sentenced in 2020 to seventeen years in prison and 13 billion won (9.6 million euros). ) fined for receiving bribes from different chaebol – the South Korean conglomerates – and the national intelligence service, the NIS. He had notably benefited from the generosity of Samsung, in exchange for which he had pardoned, in 2009, the leader of the conglomerate, Lee Kun-hee (1942-2020), imprisoned in a tax evasion case. Lee Kun-hee was then able to resume running his business.
The pardon granted by Yoon Seok-youl means that LMB, 81, will not return to prison. He has benefited since June from a temporary suspension of his sentence for health reasons. This measure was to end on December 28.
South Korea’s fourth president pardoned
This is the second time Mr. Yoon has exercised his right of pardon since taking office in May. In August, he shared it with Samsung Electronics executive chairman Lee Jae-yong and other business figures. The Democratic opposition had already criticized his choices. This time, the criticisms are all the more intense as the current president is a former prosecutor who carried out the investigations which led LMB to prison.
“Defendant Lee Myung-bak undermined constitutional values by abusing popularly delegated presidential authority for his own private interests”he hammered during the trial of the former leader. “This pardon is ridiculous and testifies to the denial of the current president”regrets Choo Chin-woo, an investigative journalist who has largely contributed to these investigations by tracking for more than ten years, in Korea, Singapore, the United States and in tax havens, the millions of dollars embezzled by LMB, “unique case by its greed”.
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