April 27, 2024

• 

[THE INVESTOR] A court hearing on the controversial merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries will resume on March 10 after it was suspended due to a special counsel team’s probe into the influence-peddling scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye.

Some minority shareholders of the former Samsung C&T filed a lawsuit in February last year to nullify the merger deal, claiming their stocks were seriously undervalued. 

But the hearing has been delayed to be held after the prosecutorial probe into the alleged link between the president’s jailed friend Choi Soon-sil and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

Lee is suspected of ordering his aides to offer 43 billion won (US$36.30 million) of financial support to Choi in return for the government’s backing of the 2015 merger deal, a crucial step for the Samsung heir to take the helm at the nation’s largest conglomerate.

The special counsel team wrapped up its four-month long probe on Feb. 28, indicting Lee and other four Samsung executives on charges of bribery. But Samsung has denied the charges, saying the money was offered for public purposes.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)