April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will be indicted on charges of bribery, the independent counsel said on Feb. 28, as investigators wrap up their four-month probe into an influence-peddling scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye. 

Lee, the de facto leader of the nation’s largest conglomerate, is suspected of offering some 43 billion won (US$36.3 million) worth of bribes to the president’s jailed friend Choi Soon-sil in return for the government’s backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.

The merger was a crucial step for Samsung’s leadership transfer from the ailing Chairman Lee Kun-hee to the son, the third generation.

The junior Lee was arrested early this month, becoming the first Samsung chief to be detained.

On the day, the independent counsel indicted Samsung’s four senior executives, including Choi Gee-sung, vice chairman and chief of the Future Strategy Office, President Chang Choong-ki at the control tower office, Park Sang-jin, president at Samsung Electronics, and Hwang Seong-soo, senior vice president at Samsung Electronics.

Later in the day, Samsung plans to announce a set of reform plans, including disbanding the control tower office that has overseen the group’s key business decisions across affiliates over the past decades.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)