Hours of anguish at Samsung. The South Korean prosecutor's office has asked for 12 years in prison for Lee Jae-yong, de facto leader and heir to the founding family of the electronics group. The charges are different, but the main one is corruption.
Lee is accused before the Central District Court of Seoul in the context of the scandal that led to the impeachment and subsequent arrest of former President of the Republic Park Geun-hye. The vice president of Samsung Electronics again denied yesterday that he ever sought political favors.
According to the indictment, the manager, arrested in February, promised or paid 43,3 billion won ($38,3 million) to Choi Soon-sil, Park's confidante and "shaman", in order to obtain the support from the public pension fund to the intra-group restructuring plan the aim of which was to strengthen its control over the chain of command. Of the total, 20,4 billion won would end up in Mir and K Sports, dubious foundations attributable to Choi.
