The IOC's ruling Executive Board accepted the Ethics Commission's recommendation that Lee should be given a reprimand and be suspended from sitting on any of its Commission for the next five years rather than being expelled.

It means that Lee can now play a leading role in Pyeongchang's bid to host the 2018 Olympics despite the Ethics Commission concluding that he "has tarnished the reputation of the Olympic Movement".

Lee's reinstatement comes despite being found guilty in July 2008 of failing to pay $39 million (£24 million) in taxes, following allegations he hid money in accounts held under the names of aides.

The 67-year--old was fined 110 billion won (£58 million), a South Korean record, and given a three-year suspended prison sentence.

But in December he was controversially given a Presidential pardon by Lee Myung-bak following pressure from supporters who wanted him to lead Pyeongchang's bid amid fears that lack of South Korean influence among the IOC membership threatened to undermine it against rivals Annecy and Munich.

Lee, who had voluntarily given up his membership in 2008 after he was charged, had claimed in written evidence sent to the IOC Ethics Commission that he should not be exeplled because his case was unreleated to the Olympics.

The Commission report said: "He argued that his case merited a moderate sanction, observing that the acts for which he was convicted did not constitute a violation of ethics, and that his conduct had not been damaging to the Olympic Movement.

"He also emphasised that he has always supported the Olympic and Sports Movement through his sponsorship of both the Olympic Games and of various International Sports Federations."

Samsung is one of the Olympics' biggest global sponsors, a relationship that started in 1998 shortly after Lee joined the IOC.

The deal was renewed in April 2007 when Samsung agreed to extend its sponsorship until the 2016 Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, when a special ceremony in Beijing was attended by IOC President Jacques Rogge and Lee.

Less than a year later, in January 2008, Lee's home and office were raided by the South Korean police as part of an investigation into accusations that Samsung was responsible for a slush fund used to bribe influential prosecutors, judges, and political figures.

It is reported in South Korea that he hopes to return to the role again in the near future now that the sentence he received has been quoshed by the Government.

The Ethics Commission report said: "[We] note that removal of the sentence leaves intact the acts for which Mr Kun-Hee Lee was convicted.

"In this regard, the Ethics Commission recalls that, whether or not the conduct of an Olympic party is ethical, is wholly independent of its criminal nature.

"Indeed, although the same acts may nor may not be criminally punishable depending on the law in different countries, they may nevertheless be ethically reprehensible."

It was the second Presidential pardon that Lee had been given.

In 1997, a year after becoming a member of the IOC, he was pardoned of bribery charges.

France's Guy Drut was also provisionally suspended as a member in 2005 after being convicted in a party-financing trial.

But he was reinstated a year later after being pardoned by then French President Jacques Chirac.

Mark Adams, the IOC spokesman, denied accusations that Lee had been let-off lightly.

Adams said: "He has been given two of the three strongest sanctions available to the IOC."

Park Yang-chun, the secretary general of the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC), claimed that Lee's reinstatement would help Pyeongchang's bid to beat rivals Annecy and Munich to host the 2018 Olympics.

He said: "We are delighted with the news.

"We are very pleased with him being reinstated."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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December 2009: Lee given Presidential Pardon so he can help Pyeongchang 2018 bid
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