April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Choi Soon-sil, a long-time confidante of impeached former President Park Geun-hye, refused to testify at a trial on July 26 for Samsung Group heir and Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who has been imprisoned on bribery and embezzlement charges.

She said her trust in the special counsel team probing the allegations has eroded, as they forced her daughter to take the witness stand illegally.

Choi Soon-sil, accused of being involved in an influence-peddling scandal, enters a court room in Seoul in December. (Park Hae-mook/ The Investor)

“As a parent, I asked the counsel where my daughter was detained from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. (before she appeared at Lee’s trial), but the prosecutors hid it. Even though Chung joined the trial on her own will, I think it was done in an illegal manner,” she claimed.

Choi, who did not attend Lee’s trial as a witness due to health issues in June, was cornered by her own daughter Chung Yoo-ra, who gave unfavorable testimonies on her mother in the previous hearing on July 12.

Her daughter hinted that Samsung created programs to support her athletic career as an equestrian athlete as part of the conglomerate’s illicit lobbying of Choi and her family, who wielded an unusual influence over government organizations during the Park administration.

Samsung is accused of offering Choi bribes, worth 43 billion won (US$38.40 million), in order to earn support and approval from government organizations for crucial merger deals for the smooth transition of management control from bedridden Chairman Lee Kun-hee to his son.

Despite opposition from some minority shareholders, including US hedge fund Elliott Management, a contentious merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries was approved at a shareholders meeting, partly due to the backing of state-run National Pension Service, the largest shareholder of Samsung C&T.

Choi allegedly put pressure on the Health and Welfare Ministry to push NPS to cast its vote in favor of the merger.

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