UPDATE: The prosecutors are seeking a new arrest warrant against JY Lee. Read here.
Worries don’t seem to leave Samsung off late. Prosecutors in South Korea are looking to arrest, Jay Y Lee, son of Kun-hee Lee for a bribing scandal involving the country President. The prosecutors allege that younger Lee had donated about 43 trillion won to a President-affiliated non-profit foundation in return for supporting the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries. The merger would have helped JY Lee grasp tighter control over the Samsung Group.
Expectedly, Samsung Group has come out strongly against this decision saying they do not accept the allegation and has asked the Seoul court to make a “wise and fair judgment based on laws and facts” when the court hears the request of the arrest warrant for Lee.
If arrested, there will be some short-term after effect in the stock price of Samsung and its affiliates and possibly the South Korean economy considering Samsung Group contributes about one-fifth of the country’s GDP.
JY Lee has been the de facto leader after his father, KH Lee suffered a major heart attack in 2014 and has been in a vegetative state since then.
This is not the first time the Lee family embroiled in a scandal. Back in 2008, father Lee was sentenced to jail for three years over illegal bond transactions but was pardoned by the then-President to aid South Korea for the Olympics.
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