AFP, Seoul :
The jailed de facto leader of the giant Samsung group went on trial Thursday over a stock manipulation case that effectively puts South Korea’s system of conglomerate control in the dock.
Samsung — whose flagship subsidiary is among the world’s biggest smartphone and computer chip makers — is by far the largest of the family-controlled empires known as chaebols that dominate business in South Korea, the world’s 12th-largest economy.
Chaebol families often have only a small ownership stake in their empires, but maintain control through complex webs of cross-shareholdings between units.
Lee Jae-yong, the vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics and the grandson of the group’s founder, is accused of stock manipulation, breach of trust and other offences when two other subsidiaries, Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, merged in 2015.
Lee — who had emergency surgery for appendicitis last month, delaying the proceedings — looked gaunt in court, reports said, and wore a dark suit with a white shirt.
