South Korean prosecutors will appeal to the Supreme Court after an appeals court found Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee not guilty on all charges stemming from a 2015 merger, prosecutors said.

Samsung Electronics Co. Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee successfully defended against an appeal by prosecutors, a step forward for South Korea’s largest company that has remained under a years-long cloud of financial impropriety charges.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee was found not guilty of accounting fraud and stock manipulation by a Seoul appeals court on Monday, in a ruling that could remove long-running legal risks that he has faced from criminal cases.

Samsung's executive chairman Jay Y. Lee has been cleared of criminal charges by South Korea's second-highest court, Bloomberg reported. Earlier on Monday, the Seoul High Court upheld an earlier decision acquitting Lee of stock manipulation and accounting fraud charges over a 2015 merger.

A South Korean appeals court cleared Samsung Electronics Chair Lee Jae-yong Monday of stock manipulation and accounting fraud related to the 2015 merger of two of the company's affiliates.

A South Korean appeals court on Monday upheld a lower court’s ruling that acquitted Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong of financial criminal charges over a contentious merger between Samsung affiliates that cemented his grip over the biggest South Korean company.