Samsung refutes the decision to seek the warrant, which will be decided on Wednesday
The political scandal that has engulfed South Korea, led to impeachment proceedings for President Park Geun-hye and revealed a rasputin-type character in Choi Soon-sil has come home to roost for one of the country’s most powerful businessmen.
South Korea’s special prosecutor’s office announced today they will seek an arrest warrant for Jay Y. Lee, the Head of Samsung Group, and accused him of paying multi-million dollar bribes to Choi to favours with the government, according to Reuters.
A hearing will be held on Wednesday to decide whether or not to move forward with the arrest warrant.
The amount of money Lee is accused of paying in bribes is an astounding SKW43 billion (US$36.42 million). The accusation claims he did so to facilitate the merger of two affiliate companies (Samsung C&T Corp and Cheil Industries) in 2015 to secure his position as head of Samsung.
Involved in the scandal is the chief of South Korea’s public pension fund, Moon Hyung-pyo, was indicted today and charged with abuse of power and giving false testimony. He admitted to ordering the pension fund to support the merger when he was in charge of the Health Ministry.
Samsung has refuted the recommendation, saying “It is difficult to understand the special prosecutors’ decision,” according to the Reuters article.
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Choi, who had the ear of President Park, is accused of setting up questionable non-profits and convincing South Korean businesses to donate to the organisations to curry favours with Park. She would then use the money for her own personal reasons.
Samsung was the largest contributor to these organisations and does not deny the donations. It does, however, oppose the claim that the money was used to push through the merger.
Last Thursday, prosecutors questioned Samsung’s Lee for 22 hours in connection with the political scandal.
One interesting wrinkle of the investigation was the special prosecutor’s office spokesperson Lee Kyu Chul told reporters on Sunday that the office would consider the import of Samsung on South Korea’s economy when deciding whether or not to move forward.
Today, the spokesperson said, “While the country’s economic conditions are important, upholding justice takes precedence,” according to the Reuters article.
Jay Y. Lee became the de-facto head of Samsung when his father Lee Kun-hee, the Chairman of Samsung, had a heart attack in 2014.
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The political scandal has rocked South Korea and resulted in massive protests that led to the impeachment proceedings against President Park. She denies any wrongdoing but her approval rating sank to a record low of 4 per cent.
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