Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South) Jay Lee the Samsung Group chief has been arrested over his role in the corruption scandal which has already accounted for the scalp of former South Korea President Park Geun-hye who was impeached recently.
According to a France24 report, the 48 year old Samsung vice chairman was taken into custody at the Seoul Detention Center after a closed door hearing on Thursday.
“A spokeswoman for Samsung Group said no decision had been made about whether Lee’s arrest would be contested or whether bail would be sought”.
“The same court rejected a request from prosecutors to arrest Lee last month. On Tuesday the prosecutor’s office had requested a warrant to arrest him and another executive, Samsung Electronics president Park Sang-jin, on bribery and other charges”, reported France24.
That request was reportedly turned down.
Samsung and Lee have since denied any wrongdoing in the case.
“We will do our best to ensure that the truth if revealed in future court proceedings”, the Samsung Group said in a short statement released after the arrest.
France24 reports that while Lee’s arrest isn’t likely to affect the day to day operations of Samsung Group companies which are run by professional managers, ”experts have said it could affect strategic decision making by South Korea’s biggest conglomerate”.
The publication quoted an engineer with the company who explained that “there are more than 100 000 of us. It wouldn’t make sense for a company of that size to not function properly just because the owner is away. Its business as usual for us”, he said.
Prosecutors are reportedly accusing Samsung of paying bribes totaling $37.74 million to organisations linked to Choi, a friend of Park, to secure government backing for a merger of two Samsung units.
Reports by France24 also say that the impeached Park is awaiting a Constitutional Court ruling on Parliament’s impeachment decision which if upheld would make her the first president to be removed in such as manner.
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