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 chair Lee Jae-yong has secured a major legal victory with an appeals court clearing him of long-running accounting fraud and stock manipulation charges, allowing him to focus on turning around the group’s struggling chip business.

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.