18 January 2017•Update: 18 January 2017
SEOUL
Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong appeared at a Seoul court Wednesday, before being whisked away to a detention center to await his fate.
The 48-year-old has been accused by special prosecutors of offering bribes in the region of 43 billion won ($37 million) to Choi Soon-sil, a close confidante of impeached President Park Geun-hye.
Samsung allegedly needed the government’s backing for a 2015 merger seen as smoothing the power transition to Lee from his hospitalized father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee.
With Park, Choi, and a number of ex-presidential aides going through their own legal trials connected to power abuse claims, investigators interrogated Lee as a suspect last week before they formally asked for a warrant to arrest him Monday.
It was then left to Wednesday’s hearing at Seoul Central District Court to decide the outcome of that request.
Lee was surrounded by reporters as he arrived at the court just before 10 a.m. (0100GMT), and nearly four hours later he was detained pending a ruling, which might not come until after midnight.
“We have fully explained [our stance] to the court,” his attorney Song Woo-chul was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency. “We are sure that the court will make a wise decision.”
While Lee has consistently denied buying any favors, he has admitted to being pressured by the president to make donations.
Such allegations against Park and Choi arose in the media last October, prompting three months – and counting – of huge street rallies and a Dec. 9 parliamentary vote to impeach the president ahead of a planned election this year.
Seoul’s Constitutional Court is expected to either confirm or overturn Park’s ousting by early June, with Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn acting as president in her stead.
