Jay Y. Lee, or Lee Jae-yong, is the vice chairman of Samsung's board of directors and the son of chairman Lee Kun-Hee, who controls the entire group. Considering that Lee Kun-Hee has been hospitalized for some time, his son Jay Y. Lee leads the Samsung group and would inherit the entire family fortune, including the power over Samsung.
The work done by Jay Y. Lee to control Samsung seems to have included the illegal influence of some government representatives. We are talking about a corruption scandal that is being investigated by a special prosecutor in South Korea, and he named Jay Y. Lee as a suspect of bribery in the case of some government officials.
According to the prosecutors, payments worth 25 million dollars made to some companies and foundations of the country's president, Choi Soon-sil, would have influenced the approval of a merger between two companies affiliated with Samsung. Basically, the prosecutors claim that Samsung would have bribed the country's president and other government representatives to approve this merger, although it would not be legal.
The Samsung heir is accused of high-level corruption
Jay Y. Lee was summoned today for hearings by the Korean prosecutors, but the Samsung company has already officially recognized the payments made to the president's companies and foundations. Of course, no one has confirmed that they made those payments to facilitate the approval of the merger between the two Samsung affiliates, but this is very clear.
Corruption scandals do not affect Samsung for the first time, and we are not talking about a member of the management who is accused of such a thing. Jay Y. Lee's father was pardoned several times by one of the presidents of South Korea for a conviction based on the commission of tax evasion crimes, so the family was not exempt from scandals.
"A South Korean special prosecutor's office will question Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee as a suspect in a widening influence-peddling scandal that may force President Park Geun-hye from office. Prosecutors have been looking into whether Samsung payments of about 30 billion won ($25 million) for a business and foundations backed by Park's friend, Choi Soon-sil, were connected to a 2015 decision by the national pension fund to back a controversial merger of two group affiliates."
Considering the way things have worked out in the past for the Lee family, it is expected that if Jay Y. Lee is convicted, he will be pardoned.
