SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - THE chairman of the Samsung Group, Lee Kun Hee, who has been indicted on tax evasion charges, announced yesterday that he would step down after 20 years of leading the firm.
'Today, I decided to resign,' Lee, 66, said during a nationally televised news conference, with top executives from his 59-company conglomerate standing behind him with grim faces. 'I thought I had a long road to travel and a lot of things to do. I have regrets. But I think this is time for me to leave, taking all the mistakes of the past with me.'
It was a surprise move. He had survived the previous corruption scandals and even a conviction on bribery charges in the 1990s to hold on to his chairmanship.
It remained unclear who would succeed him. His son and heir, Mr Lee Jae Yong, will also resign as an executive at Samsung Electronics - the world's largest maker of computer memory chips and the second-largest producer of mobile phones.
He will work overseas 'building up his market experiences', the company said.
But there was little doubt about the Lee family's ability to control the company it founded. The family runs the conglomerate through a network of loyal executives and circular funding that locks the subsidiaries to one another.
When chairman Lee took over Samsung in 1987 upon the death of his father and Samsung founder, Mr Lee Byung Chull, the company made cheap copies of Japanese electronics. Now, the lucrative conglomerate accounts for nearly one-fifth of the country's total exports.
After a three-month investigation, a special counsel with a parliamentary mandate indicted Lee and nine other Samsung executives last week on charges of evading at least US$128 million (S$173 million) in taxes and breach of trust. If convicted, Lee could face between five years to life in jail. Few analysts believe he will face heavy punishment.
The counsel also uncovered an estimated US$4.6 billion Lee had kept hidden in the stock and bank accounts opened in the name of Samsung executives and managed by his closest aides.
Civic groups lambasted the special counsel for failing to delve deeper into whether the money was embezzled from Samsung and used to bribe politicians.
The civic groups said that the special counsel's decision not to arrest Lee and his aides was another sign of treating corruption at big businesses in South Korea lightly and would deter foreign investors.
Lee was revered as a god-like figure among Samsung workers, but was rarely seen in public and spoke in halting whispers. South Koreans saw him as both a visionary businessman and as a man who kept too many secrets.
Born in 1942 in the southern city of Daegu, he graduated from Waseda University in Japan, then received his MBA from George Washington University. His wife runs a Samsung-affiliated museum.
The couple suffered a personal tragedy when one of their three daughters committed suicide while living in New York in 2005, apparently after they opposed her plan to marry her Korean boyfriend.
