Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, who was sentenced to five years in prison for bribery, embezzlement and other charges in August last year, has been freed after an appellate court gave him a suspended sentence, dismissing most of the charges against him.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Lee's sentence had been reduced to 2-1/2 years on Monday, with the sentence suspended for four years, and he was freed from jail after spending nearly a year behind bars.
Lee was given the five-year sentence for giving bribes of 8.8 billion won (US$8.1 million) to former president Park Geun-hye and her associate, Choi Soon-il.
The money was in exchange for backing the merger of two Samsung units which was deemed necessary so Lee could control the conglomerate.
{loadposition sam08}The appeals court reduced the amount which Lee had paid as bribes to 3.6 billion won, which Lee had sent to Choi's Germany-based company to sponsor training for her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.
The appeals court said that Lee had "passively" complied with a request from Park to sponsor Chung as a result of being intimidated by both Park and Choi.
The Samsung heir was cleared of a charge of hiding assets overseas, with the court deciding that he sent money overseas only to pay it out as bribes. It also ruled that a sum of 1.63 billion won given to a sports foundation run by Choi's family was not a bribe.
The prosecution has said it will appeal the ruling.
Lee told reporters as he walked free: "I am sorry for not showing the best side of me ... the past year has been the most precious time of self-reflection. I will look at things more carefully from now on."
He said his first priority was to visit his ailing father, Lee Jun-her who has been bedridden since a heart attack in 2014.
Lee's problems began during 2016, a year when Samsung had to stop production of its flagship Galaxy Note after numerous devices combusted. The company also faced issues with washing machines and had to order a recall.