Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Accused Of Bribery

Park could become South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to leave office early after parliament voted in December to impeach her over the corruption scandal, which has triggered big weekly rallies calling for her to step down.

Special prosecutors, who have been investigating the country’s influence-peddling scandal, summoned the de facto head of Samsung Group to appear at 9.30am in Seoul on Thursday, special prosecution spokesman Lee Kyu-chul said in a briefing.

The likelihood of prosecutors seeking a court warrant to formally arrest Lee was “high”, an unidentified investigator was quoted by Yonhap as saying. Even former leader Roh Tae-woo in the 1990s stated that Park was heavily manipulated by Choi.

Prosecutors are expected to question Lee on Thursday regarding why Samsung sent corporate funds to Choi Soon-sil, the jailed confidante, including buying costly horses for her daughter, who was on the national dressage team.

Samsung has admitted that it made contributions to the foundations and the Germany-based firm set up by Choi, but denied allegations that such contributions were related to the 2015 merger. Investigators suspect Choi Soon-Sil of swindling the money received from corporations, including Samsung. He said that Park didn’t directly ask him to support Choi’s foundations and that he was unaware of Samsung’s payments to them.

Lee has strongly denied any bribery, telling the parliamentary panel last month that Samsung never expected anything in return for the money, which was supposed to go towards promoting South Korean culture and sports overseas. Lee and Park reportedly had at least three private meetings around the time of the Samsung merger in July 2015 at which they discussed the merger and financial support for equestrianism.

The scandal has triggered weekly rallies calling for Park to step down.

If Park were to leave office, a presidential election would be held within 60 days.

Now vice-chair, Lee is considered de facto boss of the entire Samsung group since his father suffered a heart attack in 2014.

Samsung Chairman Kun-Hee Lee has been in poor health for the past couple years, and his only son, Jay Y. Lee, has assumed some responsibilities overseeing the conglomerate that makes up more than a fifth of South Korea’s GDP.

Lee is the largest shareholder of the newly-formed Samsung C&T, which in turn owns a large stake in Samsung Electronics, tightening his control over the entire conglomerate.