The acting head of Samsung is to be indicted on bribery and embezzlement charges connected to a corruption and cronyism scandal centring on South Korea’s impeached president, Park Geun-hye.
Lee Jae-yong and four other Samsung executives will almost certainly face trial over accusations that South Korea’s biggest conglomerate donated millions of dollars to foundations run by a close friend of Park’s in exchange for government favours.
Later on Tuesday, Lee, who is officially Samsung’s vice-president but has in effect run the company since his father suffered a heart attack in 2014, will be charged with bribery, embezzlement, hiding assets overseas and committing perjury before parliament, prosecutors said on the final day of their investigation into a scandal that has rocked the country’s political and business worlds. The four executives, who all face the same charges as Lee except perjury, are the Samsung group’s vice-chairman, Choi Gee-sung, and president, Chang Choong-ki, as well as Samsung Electronics’ president, Park Sang-jin, and executive vice-president, Hwang Sung-soo. Some of the executives will resign and leave Samsung, but Lee is expected to stay on as de facto head of the company if there is a trial. The firm, whose group revenues are equivalent to a fifth of South Korea’s GDP, has so far declined to comment on the charges, but this month it said it had “not paid bribes nor made improper requests to the president seeking favours”. (The Guardian)
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