He’s accused of bribing officials with millions of dollars

Feb 28, 2017 09:34 GMT  ·  By

Samsung Electronics vice chairman and heir Lee Jae-yong is facing indictment in a scandal which involves many government officials from South Korea. Samsung’s official is accused of giving bribes of millions of dollars in exchange for government support.

The charges he faces include paying more than $35 million in bribes to a friend of the South Korean President in order to receive favors from the administration for a 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates. The favorable merger might have also firmed up Lee’s control of Samsung Electronics.

The South Korean special prosecutor has confirmed today that Lee Jae-yong will be indicted on bribery and other charges, including embezzlement and concealing of assets abroad, according to Bloomberg. This starts the legal proceedings that might put Lee behind bars for years.

The heir has already spent a couple of weeks behind bars, but the actual trial could take several years to wrap up. The trial might take down Korea's President Park Geun-hye, too.

Samsung’s heir denied the charges

Samsung’s official did admit that he made the payments, but denied that he was seeking political advantages. He said that he was forced to make donations, but didn’t request any favors in return. The prosecutors have spent months building the case and the trial could last for as long as 18 months.

After the indictment is announced, Lee can seek bail, but it’s highly unlikely that he will continue his succession to chairman position inside the company.

Lee isn’t the only one that’s facing indictment, as four other executives are accused of bribery and embezzlement. They’ve already resigned from Samsung and the president of South Korea was already impeached in the scandal that started late last year.

Samsung already announced its intention to disband the Corporate Strategy Office, the decision-making unit at the company, which has been linked to the corruption investigation.