SEOUL-
Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics has won an inheritance claim case filed by his brother.
Lee Kun-hee was accused by Lee Maeng-hee of hiding company shares after their father, Samsung’s founder, died. Lee Maeng-hee n $850m (£522m) share of his brother’s inherited wealth.
But Seoul’s High Court upheld the original verdict which found in favour of Lee Kun-hee.
Lee Maeng-hee’s lawyer said his client had not yet decided whether to take his case to the Supreme Court.
The High Court found that some of the shares in the Samsung Group claimed by Lee Maeng-hee had been left to him by his father, Lee Byung-Chull, when he died in 1987.
But it said the 10-year period for inheritance claims had expired.
Lee Maeng-hee and other relatives had filed a $4bn claim against Lee Kun-Hee in 2012, arguing he had hidden shares in other people’s names.
The other family members chose not to continue with their claim after a lower court ruling against them last year.
Lee Byung-Chull, who founded Samsung in 1938 selling dried fish in South Korea, had three sons and five daughters.
Under Lee Kun-hee’s leadership, Samsung has grown into the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones and televisions.
In 2008, Lee Kun-hee was convicted of tax evasion, which led him to resign as chairman of the company but in 2009 he received a presidential pardon in 2009 and returned to lead Samsung Electronics in 2010.
