Samsung leader grilled for more than 22 hours over Park scandal
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SAMSUNG Group leader Lee Jae-yong left the South Korean special prosecutor’s office early yesterday after more than 22 hours of questioning on bribery suspicions in an influence-peddling scandal that could topple President Park Geun-hye.
Lee left the special prosecution office without answering reporters’ questions and headed to a waiting car.
Prosecutors have been investigating whether Samsung provided 30 billion won (US$25.46 million) to a business and foundations backed by Park’s friend, Choi Soon-sil, in exchange for the national pension fund’s support for a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.
The special prosecutor’s office said it would decide by tomorrow whether to seek a warrant to arrest 48-year-old Lee, the third-generation leader of South Korea’s largest conglomerate, or chaebol. There were no plans to bring him in for further questioning.
Lee denied some of the suspicions against him but had admitted to others, said Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesman for the special prosecutors’ office who declined to elaborate.
A Samsung spokeswoman declined to comment.
The corruption scandal has engulfed the highest reaches of South Korea’s elite, with Park impeached by parliament in December, a decision that must be upheld or overturned by the Constitutional Court. Park, who has been stripped of her powers in the meantime, has denied wrongdoing.
Lee Jae-yong was named as a suspect on Wednesday and summoned on Thursday morning for questioning.
Prosecutors were looking into whether he gave false testimony during a parliamentary hearing in early December, where the heads of nine of South Korea’s biggest chaebol were subjected to an unprecedented 13-hour televised grilling by a panel investigating the presidential scandal.
Lee Jae-yong denied bribery accusations during that hearing, rejecting assertions from lawmakers that Samsung lobbied to get the fund to back the merger.
The chiefs of South Korean chaebol have over the years had prison sentences shortened or forgiven, or received pardons, with the economic impact of imprisonment cited as a factor.
Lee Jae-yong’s father Lee Kun-hee, who has been incapacitated since a heart attack in 2014, was handed a three-year suspended jail sentence in 2009 for tax evasion. He was later pardoned.
Asked whether prosecutors would take into account any economic impact in their decision on whether to seek Lee Jae-yong’s arrest, spokesman Lee Kyu-chul said: “From the point of the special prosecutor, we are conducting the investigation by law and principle. There is nothing further that I can say in that regard.”
Shares in group flagship Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, ended 3.45 percent lower yesterday.
The special prosecution also questioned Park Sang-jin, a president at Samsung Electronics, for about 13 hours until early yesterday.
Park Sang-jin had signed a contract for Samsung Electronics in 2015 to sponsor an equestrian team, the main beneficiary of which was the daughter of President Park’s friend Choi, a key figure in the scandal who is in detention and undergoing a criminal trial. Choi has denied wrongdoing.
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