Sensational developments in the investigation by the Korean judiciary into the bribery of President Park Geun Hye. The judge ordered the arrest of Lee Jae Yong, the heir to the Samsung dynasty fortune, current head of the group (among other things Exor adviser). The accusation is that he bribed the president in exchange for favours. The prosecution made this decision after questioning Lee for 22 hours between Thursday and Friday.
Authorities believe that Samsung has donated millions of dollars to several foundations and companies allegedly controlled by Choi Soon-il, a close friend of President Park, in exchange for favors. The group allegedly paid around 17,5 million euros for consultancy services to a company based in Germany and chaired by Choi Soon-il. Other transactions were supposed to finance the equestrian training of Choi's daughter, who is professionally engaged in horse riding. In addition, Samsung allegedly donated 16,2 million euros to two non-profit foundations related to Choi between 2015 and 2016.
Prosecutors suspect the company paid to get the government-controlled National Pension Service, a shareholder in a group company, to approve the merger of this and another Samsung subsidiary. Lee admitted to prosecutors that the group had made the transactions for Choi's two foundations but denied that the donations were to approve the merger.
Lee is a vice president of Samsung Electronics, but effectively took over the leadership after his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack last October.
