Former Samsung boss appeals tax evasion sentenceFormer Samsung group chairman Lee Kun-Hee on Wednesday filed an appeal against his suspended prison sentence and multi-million dollar fine for tax evasion, court officials and Samsung said.

Prosecutors for their part have also appealed for a heavier sentence against the man who led the country's biggest business group for almost 20 years.

The Seoul Central District Court last week sentenced Lee to a three-year prison term suspended for five years after finding him guilty of tax evasion but innocent of a more serious charge of breach of trust.

Lee, 66, was also fined 110 billion won (109 million dollars).

Prosecutors had called for his conviction on both charges, a seven-year jail term and a 350 billion won fine.

"We are planning to ask the appeals court to rule on our position that the taxes were not evaded in a fraudulent or dishonest manner, and also the amount of the fine," defence counsel Lee Wan-Soo told Yonhap news agency.

Lee quit the group in April following a corruption probe which had been sparked by former Samsung lawyer turned whistleblower Kim Yong-Chul.

Kim publicly raised major corruption allegations against Lee and Samsung and parliament ordered an independent investigation.

"His wrongdoing is not serious enough to merit an actual prison term," said Judge Min Byung-Hoon in passing judgement on Lee last week.

Critics say the ruling highlighted the country's track record of leniency towards convicted tycoons.

Samsung has 250,000 staff in 59 affiliates and accounted for more than 20 percent of the nation's exports last year.

Source: AFP