Seoul - South Korea's special prosecutor's
office said on Monday it was seeking a warrant to arrest the
head of Samsung Group, the country's largest
conglomerate, accusing him of paying multi-million dollar bribes
to a friend of President Park Geun-hye.
Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee was questioned for 22
straight hours last week as investigators probed a corruption
scandal that resulted in parliament impeaching Park last month.
The special prosecutor's office accused Lee of paying bribes
totalling 43 billion won ($36.42 million) Choi Soon-sil, a
friend of the president who is the woman at the centre of
scandal.
Lee was also accused of embezzlement and perjury in the
prosecution's application for an arrest warrant.
Seoul's central district court said a hearing will be held
at 10:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Wednesday to decide whether to
approve the warrant. Samsung did not have an immediate comment.
"The special prosecutor's office, in making this decision to
seek an arrest warrant, determined that while the country's
economic conditions are important, upholding justice takes
precedence," Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesman for the office, told a
media briefing.
Prosecutors have been looking into whether Samsung's support
for a business and foundations backed by Park's friend Choi may
have been connected to the National Pension Service's 2015
decision to support a controversial $8 billion merger of two
Samsung Group affiliates.
NPS chairman Moon Hyung-pyo was indicted on Monday on
charges of abuse of power and giving false testimony.
Park remains in office but has been stripped of her powers
while the Constitutional Court decides whether to make her the
country's first democratically elected leader to be forced from
office.
Moon was arrested in December after acknowledging ordering
the world's third-largest pension fund to support the $8 billion
merger in 2015 while he was head of the health ministry, which
oversees the NPS.
Samsung has acknowledged providing funds to the three
institutions but has repeatedly denied accusations of lobbying
to push through the merger.
Choi is accused of colluding with Park to pressure big
businesses, including Samsung, to contribute to non-profit
foundations backing the president's initiatives.
Choi, in detention and on trial on charges of abuse of power
and attempted fraud, again denied wrongdoing on Monday in an
appearance at the Constitutional Court.
She also denied having any prior knowledge of the Samsung
Group's controversial 2015 merger of two affiliates.
"Even if I knew, I could not have passed on any information
because I have no knowledge about mergers or hedge funds,
anything like that, in the first place," Choi told the court.
South Korea has been gripped by political crisis for months,
with Park impeached in December. Park has also denied
wrongdoing, though admitted carelessness in her relationship
with Choi.
If the impeachment is upheld by the Constitutional Court, an
election would be held in two months, with former U.N. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon expected to be a candidate.
Shares in group flagship Samsung Electronics, the world's
top maker of smartphones, flatscreen TVs and memory chips,
extended losses on Monday afternoon and were down 2.3 percent.