The final hearing in the corruption scandal that rattled the nation and led to the ousting of former President Park Geun-hye will take place at the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Along with the former president, the fate of Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will also be decided.
Our Choi Si-young has this report.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Korea will rule on three corruption cases involving former President Park Geun-hye, her confidante Choi Soon-sil and Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jay Yong.
Currently, appeals courts have separately sentenced Park to twenty-five years in prison and her confidante Choi to twenty years behind bars.
But, Samsung Vice Chairman Lee got his prison sentence reduced on appeal from five years to a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence.
The three defendants are facing mostly corruption and power-abuse charges, and the Supreme Court will rule on some contentious issues that brought all three cases to the highest court.
Previously, the appeals courts gave different verdicts over whether Samsung gave three horses to Choi's daughter in exchange for business favors.
The appeals courts for Park and Choi said there was an exchange of favors, but the appeals court for Lee said Choi didn't come to "own the horses" and there is no exchange of favors.
If the Supreme Court decides there were bribes, Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil could face thirty-two and twenty-three year prison terms respectively.
And Lee would have to sit for a re-trial at the appeals court that released him from detention.
If the Supreme Court rules that there weren't bribes, Park and Choi will go back to a re-trial at the appeals court, where they will likely see their prison terms reduced.
Or the Supreme Court could say only one of those two things either ownership transfer or business favors happened,... which would send Park, Choi and Lee all back to a retrial at the appeals court. In that case, it will be some time before there is any final ruling on the corruption scandal.
Choi Si-young, Arirang News.
