Seoul: South Korean prosecutors sought a 12-year jail term on Wednesday for Samsung Electronics vice-chairman Jay Y. Lee in a corruption case that led to the ouster of the nation's President earlier this year.

They made their demand in Seoul High Court which is hearing an appeal by Lee against a five-year jail term handed out to him in August by a lower court in the case that has gripped the country.

The 49-year-old billionaire heir to South Korea's Samsung Group was convicted by the lower court of bribing the country's former President Park Geun-hye. Besides Lee, who has been in detention since February, four former Samsung executives were also charged.

The lower court had ruled the bribe helped Lee strengthen his control of Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel in the country's biggest conglomerate and one of the world's top technology firms.

"The defendants say they are concerned about the future of Samsung Group. However, what they are really concerned about is Lee's loss of control and subsequent economic losses," special prosecutor Park Young-soo said.

Lee earlier on Wednesday denied the bribery charge and also denied recent allegations by prosecutors that he had met Park one-on-one four times, instead of the previously disclosed three times.

Seoul High Court is expected to rule on the appeal in late January. Whichever side loses could take the case to the Supreme Court, the final court of appeal in South Korea.

The lower court had ruled in August that while Lee never asked for Park's help directly, the fact that a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates did help cement Lee's control over Samsung Electronics implied he was asking for the President's help to strengthen his control of the firm. His lawyers have strongly challenged this logic since appeals hearings began in October. Reuters