Lee, 49, is vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker and the flagship of the Samsung Group founded by his grandfather in 1938. Lee's father Lee Kun-Hee went on to build up the tech empire but was convicted of bribery in 1996. He was made vice chairman in 2012, a banner year when Samsung dethroned Apple as the world's top smartphone maker and shattered profit records every quarter. OVERCAUTIOUSIn court, Lee's lawyers and his co-accused, four other former Samsung executives, painted him as an inexperienced and overcautious heir who was side-lined by seasoned Samsung veterans handpicked by his father, in what was seen as a strategy to save him from legal responsibility. Former senior executives consider Lee indecisive and detail-obsessed while lacking broader vision, according to Shim Jung-Taik, author of several books on Samsung, including a biography of Lee Kun-Hee.

Source: Daily Nation August 25, 2017 10:07 UTC