April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] With the arrest of Samsung Group’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong on bribery charges, the special counsel team is expected to accelerate their investigation into President Park Geun-hye.

The Seoul Central District Court early morning on Feb. 17 issued an arrest warrant for Lee, Samsung Electronics vice chairman, saying that new charges and additional evidence justify the physical detention of Lee. 

Lee is suspected of offering bribes worth 43 billion won ($36 million) to Choi Soon-sil, Park’s longtime friend, in exchange for the Park administration’s help in clearing hurdles for the founding family to smoothly transfer power from the ailing chairman Lee Kun-hee to his only son, Lee Jae-yong. 

Upon the ruling, special counsel Park Young-soo immediately placed Lee behind bars at a detention facility in Uiwang, southwest of Seoul, where he had been awaiting the court’s decision.  

Prosecutors can detain him for up to 21 days before formally indicting him.

Lee, who is the first head of the country’s conglomerates to be taken into custody over President Park’s corruption scandal, is charged with bribery, embezzlement, perjury, the concealment of criminal proceeds and illicit transfer of assets abroad.

The arrest of Samsung Group’s de facto leader was a much-need boost for the special counsel team which a day earlier hit the wall in its efforts to search Park’s office in Cheong Wa Dae. 

A local administrative court had dismissed the counsel’s request to suspend the presidential office’s decision to deny access for the search to be conducted. 

With the unprecedented search of the nation’s high office foiled, the independent counsel is gearing up to question in-person President Park who the team views as being at the core of the alleged bribery. 

The counsel team has focused on investigating the ties between President Park and Samsung Group over allegations that the nation’s largest conglomerate offered kickbacks to the entities controlled by Park’s close friend Choi in return for business favors. 

Lee has denied all charges, saying he was forced to make donations to entities controlled by Choi, including the K-Sports and Mir foundations, and did not seek any business favors in return.

Lee’s arrest is expected to give the counsel team an upper hand in the negotiation over its plan to question President Park in person. The counsel team and President Park are allegedly in the process of adjusting the location and timing for the face-to-face questioning. 

A key remaining variable for the special counsel is whether it will be granted an extension for its probe into Park and other parties involved in the scandal. It now has less than two weeks left until its probe deadline expires on Feb. 28.

The team said during a briefing on Feb. 17 that it will summon Woo Byung-woo, an ex-presidential secretary for civil affairs suspected of condoning Choi’s meddling in state affairs, as a suspect on charges of abuse of authority on Feb. 18.
 
It has yet to decide whether to investigate other companies including Lotte, SK and CJ Group that offered donations to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, considering the remaining time for the probe. 

The team on Feb. 17 formally requested an extension of the probe by a month to acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. It remains unclear whether Hwang, who was appointed by the president herself, will approve it.

The arrest is also expected to take a toll on President Park who is awaiting a decision on whether she will be impeached at the Constitutional Court. Park has denied the bribery allegations, a key charge behind her impeachment.

President Park’s legal representatives said that the arrest of Lee will have no impact on the ongoing impeachment trial. 

“It is premature to say, but the arrest will have no impact on the impeachment,” Park’s lawyer Sohn Beom-kyu said on Feb. 17. “Lee’s charges of embezzling company funds, concealing criminal proceeds and hiding assets abroad is not at all related to the reasons behind Park’s impeachment.”

With the Constitutional Court setting Feb. 24 for the final hearing of Park’s impeachment trial, speculation is growing that the ruling will be made in early March before acting Chief Justice Lee Jung-mi’s term ends on March 13. 

President Park has appeared to be trying to delay the court proceedings by asking for a long list of witnesses and additional hearings, which critics see as boosting chances for her to be reinstated.

After the departure of the acting Justice Lee, President Park will only need two of the remaining justices on her side to avoid impeachment.

Welcoming the court’s decision to arrest Lee, the opposition block has increased pressure on Hwang to extend the term of the probe. 

“The independent counsel is doing its best, but it is only halfway through the probe. Hwang should make a decision on whether to extend the probe term for follow-up measures,” Rep. Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea told reporters.  

By Ock Hyun-ju/The Korea Herald (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)