Prosecutors once again requested a five-year prison sentence in the appeal against Lee, linked to the 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates. A lower court had acquitted him in February, dismissing some 19 charges.

A decade after Lee Jae-yong took the helm at Samsung, the tech giant’s third-generation corporate heir is undergoing the most severe test yet of his business mettle. The South Korean billionaire heads a conglomerate grappling with problems in its vast semiconductor business,

Prosecutors have called for a five-year prison sentence and a fine of 500 million won ($380,000) for Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong in his appellate trial over allegations of illegal succession of management control.