the heir to The giant south Korean Samsung, Lee Jae-Yong, was heard Thursday as a suspect in the vast corruption scandal that led to president Park Geun-Hye to be destitute.
Mr. Lee, vice-president of Samsung Electronics, the son of the chairman of the Samsung group, Lee Kun-Hee and the grandson of its founder, was questioned on suspicion of corruption.
It is also suspected of perjury last month before a parliamentary commission of inquiry on the scandal that continues to make waves, according to the special team of investigators responsible for the case.
“I’m sorry to have caused concern among the population with this incident,” said the heir to the largest chaebol in south korea upon his arrival at the office of the investigators.
Mr. Lee and his lawyer were greeted by dozens of journalists and protesters. “Stop, Lee immediately”, shouted the latter, calling it “co-guilty” in the scandal.
investigators will decide at the end of this hearing to ask the court for a warrant of arrest official against Mr. Lee said to the press, Lee Kyu-Chul, spokesman of the independent investigators. Quoting one of them, the agency Yonhap has estimated that the probability was “high”.
The case is fundamentally about the influence enjoyed by a friend of 40 years from the president.
Choi Soon-Sil is currently considered to have benefited from his relationship with Ms. Park in order to extort astronomical amounts of money to the conglomerates in south korea, which have paid millions of dollars to private foundations created by this confidante of the shadow.
Samsung is the one that has shown the most generous in giving to the foundation of Ms. Choi’s 20 billion won (17 million dollars), followed by Hyundai, SK, LG and Lotte.
- Fusion controversial -
Samsung is also believed to have paid several million euros to fund the training stables in Germany, the daughter of Ms. Choi.
It’s been weeks that the investigators interview the leaders of Samsung, conducting searches in the premises of the group.
according To the press, these officers explained that they had been subjected to pressure to bring the hand to the pocket. But they argue not to have sought any favors in return, so that the amounts paid are not bribes.
In one of the ramifications of the case, investigators are looking into whether Samsung has bribed Ms. Choi to get the green light from the government to a controversial merger in 2015 between Cheil Industries and C&T, two units of the group. This operation had been seen as a crucial step to ensure a handover of power without history for the benefit of Lee Jae-Yong.
The merger had been sharply criticized by some shareholders on the ground that the value of C&T would have been deliberately under-estimated, but the national Fund of retirement (NPS), a significant shareholder of Samsung under the supervision of the ministry of social Affairs, had given its green light to the transaction.
A former minister of social Affairs was arrested in December on suspicion of having pressured the pension Fund to vote on the transaction, while the premises of the NPS were also searched.
The Parliament voted in early December with the dismissal of Ms Park, who was accused of collusion with Mrs. Choi. The constitutional Court has yet to endorse or not this spectacular dismissal of the president, who denies these charges.
The scandal has put a new light on the relations sometimes unhealthy between the business world and the political power.
The Samsung group is present in a wide variety of sectors. His ship-admiral, Samsung Electronics, is the world’s leading manufacturer of smartphones.
The Lee family has stepped up its efforts in recent time to pass the reins of power to Lee Jae-Yong after the heart attack in 2014 of his father, who was forced from the bed.
12/01/2017 08 :24 :30 – Seoul (AFP) – © 2017 AFP
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