South Korea's Supreme Court on Thursday, 17 July, delivered a decisive acquittal for Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong, bringing an end to a nearly decade-long legal saga that has cast a shadow over the country's most powerful conglomerate.
The ruling clears Lee of all charges connected to the controversial 2015 merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, which prosecutors argued was designed to consolidate his control over the Samsung empire at the expense of minority shareholders.
