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Samsung boss vows siblings won't see a penny of inheritance

Lee Kun-hee claims they already got their share

Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee has vowed that his siblings won't see a penny more of his father's inheritance than they already have – and said that he'd sue them right back.

“If they file suits against me, I will take the same actions and I am even thinking of going to the Constitutional Court, taking it a step further than the Supreme Court,” he told reporters, according to the Korea Herald.

“I have no intention of giving them any money.”

Both the eldest Lee brother, Lee Maeng-hee, and the chairman's older sister, Lee Sook-hee, as well as family members of the second-eldest brother, Lee Chang-hee, have filed suit against the chairman, who is the third-born son in the family. They allege that he incorporated stocks in Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Electronics into his own share of the inheritance when they weren't his to take.

Eldest brother Lee Maeng-hee has claimed that 8.24 million Life shares, 20 stocks in Electronics and 100m won (£55,000, $88,380) were put in a trust under the names of a number of Samsung Group executives, all of which adds up to around 710bn won (£391m, $624m).

Their sister Lee Sook-hee has asserted that shares in Life and Electronics were left to all the Lee children, not just Kun-hee, and she's looking for shares worth 190bn won (£105m, $167m)

Family members of the second-oldest brother, Lee Chang-hee, also filed suit last month over 100bn won (£55m, $88m) of shares.

The arguments are over the inheritance from their father and Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull, who broke with tradition when he left his company to his third-born son rather than his eldest.

Lee Kun-hee said today that his father's inheritance had already been divided appropriately and his siblings were only seeking more now because the shares are so valuable. ®

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