South Korean police on Saturday led Jay Y. Lee, hands bound with rope, into a special prosecutors office after arresting the de facto head of the country’s largest industrial conglomerate in a corruption probe that includes allegations of bribery.
Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was shown on a YTN television broadcast being led into the office in Seoul around 2:20 p.m. local time after spending his first night in police custody. On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court arrested Lee on a warrant including allegations of bribery, perjury, embezzlement, hiding assets abroad and concealing illegal profits.
Lee has become the highest-profile business figure yet accused in an influence-peddling scandal that has already seen President Park Geun-hye impeached. Prosecutors have cited evidence that Samsung paid bribes to a confidante of the president to ensure government support for a 2015 merger of affiliates that tightened Lee’s grip on the chaebol, as Korea’s dominant business groups are called.
A first trial can take up to six months, according to the Korean criminal code.
The probe is part of a broader investigation into contributions that dozens of Korean companies gave to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of Park. The scandal has rocked South Korea, with millions of people taking to the streets in protest. President Park has been impeached and her powers suspended. A separate constitutional court will determine whether she is ultimately removed from office, another tumultuous chapter for a country that became a full-fledged democracy in 1987.
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