The boss of Samsung and his son, seen as the heir apparent to the Samsung empire, are reported to have resigned after elongated investigations into tax avoidance and bribery allegations.

"I thought I had a long road to travel and a lot of things to do. I have regrets. But I think this is time for me to leave, taking all the mistakes of the past with me," was Chairman Lee Kun-hee's poignant final statement to the media as he announced his resignation.

Lee Jae-yong, his son who was being groomed to take over from the 66 year-old chairman, is also reported to have resigned.

Samsung's troubles have been rolling on for months after a whistle-blower in the company's legal department accused the company of having a slush-fund spread around 100s of top executives which was used to bribe government officials.

These allegations seem to have been dropped, but the tax evasion charges seem to have stuck.

However, Chairman Lee has, according to Forbes, a fortune of only $2bn making him only the 605th richest man in the world.

That doesn't seem huge for a man who is the son of Samsung's founder, Lee Byung-Chull, who has been boss of Samsung since 1987 which has revenues of over $150bn a year, and profits of over $13bn, and accounts for a fifth of South Korea's total exports.

"Twenty years ago, I promised to make Samsung into a top-class company," said an apparently penitent Lee yesterday, "I am very sorry for not living up to that promise."

See also: Electronics Weekly's Focus on Samsung Electronics, a roundup of content on three main areas of the technology giant's development: memory chips, LCD displays and mobile phone technology.

See also: Mannerisms, the blog of David Manners. Updated twice daily, it's the distinctive, entertaining, authoritative and never dull commentary on the semiconductor industry, from someone who knows...