Alalam - Asia

"It is difficult to understand the special prosecution's decision," Samsung Group said in an email statement in response to the special prosecutors' decision to request an arrest warrant for Lee, the third-generation leader of South Korea's top conglomerate.

The prosecutors also said in their indictment of National Pension Service (NPS) chief Moon Hyung-pyo that he received an order from President Park Geun-hye to help the 2015 merger of Samsung C&T Corp and Cheil Industries Inc succeed.

Moon was indicted on charges of abuse of power and giving false testimony. He was arrested in December after acknowledging ordering the world's third-largest pension fund to support the $8 billion merger last year of two Samsung Group affiliates while he was head of the health ministry, which oversees the NPS.