After révulsé the population, and swept away the president of south korea, the incredible corruption scandal that tétanise the peninsula since September could win this week the boss of the most powerful conglomerate in the country : Samsung. On Monday, the independent prosecutor investigating the vast system of traffic of influence led by a confidant of the head of State, has formally ordered by a court in Seoul, the arrest of Jay Y. Lee, who, from his position as vice-president of Samsung Electronics ‘ control, his deputies and his two sisters, and the dozens of companies forming part of the gigantic empire founded seventy-nine years ago by their grand-father.
The court seised of the case by the magistrate is expected to rule Wednesday on the need to detain or not the big boss. The man of forty-eight years, is accused of having asked of the companies of the conglomerate, between 2015 and 2016, to pay a total of 43 billion won (34 million euros) in bribes to Choi Soon-sil, the consultant closest to the head of State, Park Geun-hye, in the hope of getting trade-offs in favour of the executive in legal cases involving his companies. Jay Y. Lee is also accused of having committed perjury when he denied, at the beginning of December, any form of corruption before the parliamentary Commission responsible for shedding light on this scandal, which pushed last month, the national Assembly to impeach the president.
he acknowledged last week, in the context of a hearing 22 hours, that Samsung had made payments to foundations and to a company controlled by Choi Soon-sil, presented as the “Rasputin” of power in Korean, the young boss assured that these transfers were not intended to influence the decisions of the executive.
” The decision of the prosecutor is difficult to understand. We have never made donations in exchange for anything “, has also hammered on Monday in a press release, the group after the announcement of the possible arrest of his boss.
Not convinced by this line of defense, investigators point to the many meetings, to the presidency, between Park Geun-hye and Jay Y. Lee as well as the concomitance between the payments from Samsung and of the favourable decisions of the National Pension Service (NPS). Placed under the supervision of the ministry of Health, itself controlled by a relative of the president, the national fund for pensions, which is one of the major shareholders of several listed companies, from Samsung, was given, last year, its downstream impact on the fusion to be very controversial between Cheil Industries and Samsung C & T.
An impact formidable
The chaebol had then to reconcile these two subsidiaries in order to facilitate the takeover capital structure of the group by Jay Y. Lee, a year after the heart attack of her father, who has propelled to the head of the empire family. Officially, Lee Kun-hee would still be recovering in a hospital, Samsung Seoul, but multiple sources ensure that former boss, at the age of 75 years, is in fact immersed in a form of coma since may 2014.
Explaining the traffic of influence, a spokesman for the prosecutor said that the Health minister of the time had already confessed that he had been asked to put pressure on the pension funds to support the financial operation of Samsung. The man has been charged Monday in connection with the case.
Advocating good faith, Samsung has complained of the potential impact of an arrest of its leader, its reputation and its brand. the ” The impact on the national economy will be significant, but we believe that justice is more important “, said Lee Kyu-chul, one of the assistants of the prosecutor.
Yann Rousseau, Les Echos
Corresponding to Tokyo
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