The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a request by an independent legal counsel to change a sitting judge on a bribery case involving Samsung Group heir-apparent Lee Jae-yong. 

Earlier, the independent counsel led by Park Young-soo filed a motion with the Supreme Court to recuse Seoul High Court Judge Jung Jun-young, arguing that he displayed prejudgment on the case and was biased toward the accused. 

The top court, however, said there is no objective ground for recognizing such suspicions. The Seoul High Court turned down a similar motion by the independent counsel in April. 

Lee was sentenced to five years in prison in August 2017 over three-point-six billion won that Samsung provided to support the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the long-time confidante of former President Park Geun-hye. An appeals court reduced his sentence to two-and-a-half years suspended for four years, leading to his release in February of 2018. 

The case, however, is sitting again at the Seoul High Court after the Supreme Court last year overturned the lower court’s conviction and ordered the appeals court to review the case, arguing an additional five billion won funneled to Choi from Samsung should also be considered as bribery.