By Duncan Mackay at the Radisson Blu Resort & Congress Centre in Sochi

Lee Kun-hee has won a court battle with his brother over his father's inheritance ©Bloomberg/Getty ImagesFebruary 6 - International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Lee Kun-hee can keep the fortune he inherited from his father, a court in Seoul ruled today.


His brother had claimed that he was entitled to a portion of the money that Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of Samsung Electronics, had inherited in 1987 when his father died without leaving a will.

Lee Maeng Hee had already lost one case last year against his brother but appealed, only for the Seoul High Court to back the decision in a ruling released today. 

The announcement coincided with the second day here of the IOC Session, which Lee Kun-hee is not attending because he is reportedly in Hawaii. 

The decision follows an appeal last year by Lee Maeng Hee against the Seoul Central District Court's ruling that he and four family members failed to prove their claims for a 4.1 trillion-won (£2.3 billion/$3.8 billion/€2.8 billion) stake in Samsung Electronics and Samsung Life Insurance Co. 

Lee Sook Hee, Lee Kun-hee's sister, had dropped the claim they had started in February 2012 following their decision but Lee Maeng Hee, controller of food and media conglomerate CJ Group, carried on.

He revised his claim last month but had still been seeking 940 billion won (£520 million/$850 million/€625 million) in shares and dividends in the two Samsung companies.

Their father, Lee Byung Chul, had founded what is now South Korea's largest business group, and Lee Maeng Hee had claimed that his brother had hidden several companies from him. 

The court said that some of the stocks demanded by the brother were actually left to him by their late father, but the 10-year period for inheritance claims had already expired.

Other stocks could not be viewed as part of their inheritance, the court added.

Lee Kun Hee with wife Ra-Hee Hong during the Opening Ceremony of London 2012 ©Getty ImagesLee Kun Hee with wife Ra-Hee Hong during the Opening Ceremony of London 2012
©Getty Images

Under Lee Kun Hee's leadership, that Samsung has transformed itself from a trading exporter into a group whose interests include the world's biggest maker of televisions, mobile phones and memory chips, as well as real estate, artillery guns and amusement parks and has a market value of $172 billion (£105 billion/€126 billion).

Lee Kun Hee's personal fortune is 11.3 trillion won (£6.5 billion/$10.8 billion/€7.7 billion) and he has been named South Korea's richest man for four consecutive years.

The latest family dispute has brought Lee Kun Hee back into the courtroom after previous problems with the law that included a charge of tax evasion, which in 2008 led him to quit as chairman of Samsung and temporarily stepping down from the IOC.

He received a Presidential pardon in 2009 and resumed running Samsung Electronics in 2010, as well as his IOC membership just in time to play a major role in helping Pyeongchang win its bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

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