Samsung said in a statement the company "needs his leadership to take the upper hand in the global market amid the world economic crisis". Lee, 68, resigned as chairman in April 2008 after being charged with tax evasion and breach of trust.
In July that year he was cleared of breach of trust but convicted of tax evasion, receiving a suspended prison sentence and a fine of USD 110 billion won. In a separate case, a court in August 2009 sentenced him to a suspended three-year prison term and a fine of 110 billion won for breach of trust over a 1999 bond issue.
But the justice ministry in December announced a special pardon, so Lee could resume his suspended membership of the International Olympic Committee and work to bring the 2018 Winter Olympics to the country.