Samsung chief's arrest sought in South Korean corruption scandal
An arrest warrant for heir apparent to Samsung's throne, Lee Jae-yong, was issued Monday for his suspected involvement in an insidious corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
The arrest warrant, issued by a special prosecutor in charge of investigating Park's alleged wrongdoing, formally accuses Lee of bribery, embezzlement and perjury, and is awaiting approval by a South Korean court scheduled to hear the case on Wednesday, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Specifically, Lee, better known in the West as Jay Y. Lee, is accused of donating 43 billion Korean won ($36 million) -- some of it embezzled from Samsung -- to a string of non-profits linked to Park confidante Choi Soon-sil in a bid to curry political favor. According to investigators, this particular round of bribes bought the government's blessing of a merger between two Samsung affiliates in 2015.
Widely considered to be the de facto head of Samsung, Lee is officially standing in for his ailing father and Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee. With Park's backing, the move helped transfer control of the chaebol to the younger Lee.
The special prosecutor is leveraging the supposed Samsung bribe as evidence that Choi and Park engaged in, and profited greatly from, illicit activities. Choi does not hold political office but is suspected of wielding influence over the administration in part tied to the pay-to-play operation.
Addressing the potential impact Lee's arrest might have on the South Korean economy -- Samsung accounts for nearly one-third of the country's stock market value -- a representative for the special prosecutor's office said "it is more important to seek justice."
Alongside wider restructuring issues, Samsung Electronics is grappling with the aftermath of last year's Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Lee's abrupt departure would come as yet another blow to the company.
Lee and three other top Samsung lieutenants were recently questioned over the company's alleged misconduct. While the three executives will not face arrest, Lee's warrant comes just days after he was grilled in a 22-hour interrogation session, the report said.
For its part, Samsung maintains no wrongdoing in the matter.
"Samsung did not make contributions in order to receive favors," the company said. "In particular, we find it hard to accept the special prosecutor's argument that Samsung has made improper requests related to the merger of Samsung affiliates or the leadership transition."
Today's development is the latest wrinkle in South Korea's corruption scandal. The country's top companies, including Samsung, LG and Hyundai, are at the heart of the issue, alleged targets of an elaborate extortion scheme from which Park and Choi pocketed tens of millions of dollars.
The arrest warrant, issued by a special prosecutor in charge of investigating Park's alleged wrongdoing, formally accuses Lee of bribery, embezzlement and perjury, and is awaiting approval by a South Korean court scheduled to hear the case on Wednesday, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Specifically, Lee, better known in the West as Jay Y. Lee, is accused of donating 43 billion Korean won ($36 million) -- some of it embezzled from Samsung -- to a string of non-profits linked to Park confidante Choi Soon-sil in a bid to curry political favor. According to investigators, this particular round of bribes bought the government's blessing of a merger between two Samsung affiliates in 2015.
Widely considered to be the de facto head of Samsung, Lee is officially standing in for his ailing father and Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee. With Park's backing, the move helped transfer control of the chaebol to the younger Lee.
The special prosecutor is leveraging the supposed Samsung bribe as evidence that Choi and Park engaged in, and profited greatly from, illicit activities. Choi does not hold political office but is suspected of wielding influence over the administration in part tied to the pay-to-play operation.
Addressing the potential impact Lee's arrest might have on the South Korean economy -- Samsung accounts for nearly one-third of the country's stock market value -- a representative for the special prosecutor's office said "it is more important to seek justice."
Alongside wider restructuring issues, Samsung Electronics is grappling with the aftermath of last year's Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Lee's abrupt departure would come as yet another blow to the company.
Lee and three other top Samsung lieutenants were recently questioned over the company's alleged misconduct. While the three executives will not face arrest, Lee's warrant comes just days after he was grilled in a 22-hour interrogation session, the report said.
For its part, Samsung maintains no wrongdoing in the matter.
"Samsung did not make contributions in order to receive favors," the company said. "In particular, we find it hard to accept the special prosecutor's argument that Samsung has made improper requests related to the merger of Samsung affiliates or the leadership transition."
Today's development is the latest wrinkle in South Korea's corruption scandal. The country's top companies, including Samsung, LG and Hyundai, are at the heart of the issue, alleged targets of an elaborate extortion scheme from which Park and Choi pocketed tens of millions of dollars.
Comments
Of course, if Apple were doing this, all hell would break loose.
Ugh.
charges were brought against his father twice. he stayed- both times; these charges are the government's way of showing the people that it is working for the will of the people just like with his father. you have no idea how things have worked or are changing here. there is more than a good chance he will face some sort of sentencing, but also likely he will get off. the Korean people are done with chaebols and most business are as well, but you do not suddenly toss a buddhist-melded-confuciansist mindset into the garbage that fast. culture changes slower than the scales of economy. the people's voice is getting louder and louder, everyone is waiting for a reckoning.
Korea is a $1.4 trillion economy. Samsung -- as a whole -- has profits in the single-digit billions of dollars. Even if it is as high as $10B, and profit is a crude proxy for value added (although it is probably a bit of an underestimate) that would be 9/1400 <1%. Bottom line: Samsung is nowhere close to 40% of Korea's economy.
It is funny how you know Korean life and politics so well from a few ai posts.
People do have power. Things are slowly changing and as an outsider you do not have a clue. Furthermore, you said Samsung was 30% of the Korean economy just days ago, now Samsung is a whopping 40%. Take your crystal ball back in, it is clearly faulty like most of your misinformation spreading posts.
My Korean friends believe that the President's impeachment will be upheld because it would be mass chaos if it didn't and some think that Lee Jae-myung will win unless Ban Ki-Moon runs. Most seemed to believe that whoever won would decide to move on to promote national healing and only hit Lee Jae-yong with a fine or something.