South Korea seeks arrest of Samsung heir as bribery suspect

Investigators believe Lee was involved in around $40 million in bribes that the conglomerate paid to Choi via Samsung Electronics.

It is alleged Samsung donated funds to entities controlled by Choi (who has been jailed and faces trial) while the government was helping with Lee’s succession of the firm. Jay Lee is also accused of embezzlement and perjury, according to the application for an arrest warrant, Reuters reported.

The team has been seeking evidences to prove allegations that Lee was directly asked by President Park to support Choi in exchange of favors during one-on-one meetings held before and after the merger.

The arrest warrant must be approved by a court, an official at Seoul central district court said.

Smaller shareholders said the merger unfairly benefited Samsung founding family members and hurt minority shareholders. The fund’s vote was key to ensuring it went through in the face of vigorous opposition from a USA -based activist hedge fund.

Prosecutors also indicted ex-health minister Moon Hyung-pyo on Monday on charges that he abused his power to compel the national pension fund to support a contentious Samsung merger in 2015. It was the largest amount given by any business group to the organisations. A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate and he has focused on Samsung’s contributions, including a 1 billion won ($850,000) horse given to Choi’s daughter.

But an indictment would throw water on that strong performance. The country has long wrestled with the issue of how to tackle corruption in its chaebol culture, but having just seen the widest public protests to date, Samsung’s leadership may find this scandal trickier to navigate than ever before. The group has already postponed the management reshuffle usually announced each December. While the company is still dealing with the fallout from its fire-prone Note 7 smartphone, its semiconductor and display businesses have been performing well. The company is now compiling a report investigating the spontaneous combustions of the handset, which is due out January 23 at the earliest. “We expect to make that decision tomorrow or the day after, at the latest”. While its spokesperson didn’t give details, he did acknowledge that some parts of Lee Jae-yong’s statements contradicted those previously given by two high-level executives at the tech giant’s control tower, the Future Strategy Office. The source hinted that prosecutors were eventually pushed to Monday’s action by public demands to clear the fog over the collusion between politics and business.

After today, you can add the current head of Samsung Group to that list. Lee was summoned by prosecutors to answer questions last week.