Samsung has appointed a convicted tax cheat to run the company. Yes, he was the former boss and yes, he was pardoned according to the curious ways of justice in South Korea but still, it's not a good look.
As the BBC reports, Lee Kun-Hee who headed the company for decades before he got pinged for tax evasion has been reappointed to run the company. He stepped down in April 2008, three months before being handed a three-year suspended sentence.
Lee says it's desperate times and he's needed at the helm. "We are in a real crisis where global top companies are collapsing. Within the next 10 years, the businesses and products that represent Samsung will disappear. We have to start anew. We have no time to hesitate,", he said, according to the Financial Times.
What does that say about Samsung? When they have to appoint a convicted tax cheat, it suggests Samsung's leadership operates in its own tiny universe, cut off from the rest of the world and the expectations of society. Not a good outlook for Samsung's future.
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