SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, fresh off an acquittal in a high-profile corporate malfeasance trial, wasted no time last week in displaying hands on management, foregoing a traditional South Korean holiday to inspect the company's operations in Malaysia.
But hanging over Lee's visit to the Southeast Asian country -- a key battery manufacturing hub for Samsung SDI, a Samsung Electronics affiliate -- was a decision by prosecutors on Thursday to appeal the Seoul Central District Court's Monday ruling that found Lee innocent of stock price manipulation and accounting fraud charges.