Alalam - Asia
The indictment of Lee Jae-yong, the company’s de facto leader, came at the end of a special prosecutor’s 90-day investigation of a corruption scandal that has already led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. When huge crowds took to the streets in recent months to demand that she leave office, they also called for the toppling of Mr. Lee and other corporate titans.
Mr. Lee was arrested on Feb. 17, a dramatic development in South Korea’s struggle to end collusive ties between the government and the family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebol, that dominate the economy.
Four other senior executives of Samsung were also indicted Tuesday, but not arrested, on the same corruption charges as Mr. Lee, and three of the four resigned. Those indictments had been expected and were not seen as indications of a threat to the Lee family’s control of the business.
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South Koreans have grown weary of endemic corruption and the country’s traditional leniency toward tycoons accused of white-collar crimes. For decades, presidents have entered office vowing to end such favoritism, but they all eventually backtracked. Anticorruption advocates say Mr. Lee’s indictment and trial will be a test of whether the system can finally make a dent in those cozy relationships.
Samsung, by far the largest of the chaebol, has long been a symbol of power and wealth in a nation that has transformed itself from an agrarian economy to one of the world’s technological powerhouses. Samsung’s market capitalization accounts for one-fourth of the value of all listed companies in South Korea, and its main unit, Samsung Electronics, alone ships 20 percent of the country’s total exports.
Mr. Lee was accused of giving or promising $38 million in bribes to Choi Soon-sil, a secretive confidante of Ms. Park. In return, the prosecutor said in his indictment, Mr. Lee received political favors, most notably government support for a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015 that helped him inherit corporate control from his incapacitated father, Lee Kun-hee.
Mr. Lee was also accused of committing perjury when he insisted during a parliamentary hearing that he had never bribed Ms. Choi or Ms. Park. He still claims that the “donations” Samsung paid out to Ms. Choi were coerced, suggesting that the company was extorted.
Samsung has said it will try to clear Mr. Lee’s name at trial. It did not immediately comment on his indictment on Tuesday. In the South Korean system, once a suspect is formally arrested, indictment automatically follows, unless evidence emerges that proves the person’s innocence. Those cases are extremely rare.