Arrest warrant sought for Samsung head in corruption scandal

The Dollar Business Bureau 

South Korea's prosecutors are seeking an arrest warrant against the Samsung Group Chief, Jay Y Lee, accusing him of paying multi-million dollars bribe to a friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye. It should be recalled that the President was suspended from her Presidential duties since Dec 9 when the National Assembly voted to impeach her.

Lee Kyu-chul, Spokesman for the special prosecutor office, told reporters that investigators will also decide whether to seek arrest warrants against other Samsung Group executives at the same time as it makes a decision on Lee, named a suspect in an investigation into whether the country's top conglomerate paid bribes to pave the way for a 2015 merger of two affiliates.

"We are considering all factors and will make a determination based on the law and principles," he told reporters.

Last week, investigators questioned Lee for 22 straight hours, probing a corruption scandal that involves Samsung’s providing $36.42 million (43 billion won) President Park Geun-hye's friend Choi Soon-sil-backed business and foundation, in return for the national pension fund's help for a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.

The Samsung chief had refused bribery accusations during a parliamentary hearing last month.

Seoul's central district will hold the next hearing on Wednesday this week to decide whether to approve the warrant.

"The special prosecutors' office, in making this decision to seek an arrest warrant, determined that while the country's economic conditions are important, upholding justice takes precedence," Kyu-chul said.

Lee, who began to head the Samsung Group after his father, Lee Kun-hee, passed away due to a heart attack in 2014, has also been accused of embezzlement and perjury in the prosecution's application for his arrest warrant.