The head of Samsung, Jay Y. Lee, was heard last night in the boardroom of a court in South Korea that is judging a request for preventive arrest made by the prosecutors. Along with Jay Y. Lee, another manager of the Samsung company was also present in the boardroom, both being investigated by prosecutors at the moment.
This is the second attempt by South Korean prosecutors to arrest Jay Y. Lee, this time bringing other charges than the initial ones. More precisely, they are now accusing the vice-president of the Samsung group of hiding some of his assets outside the country, but also of perjury in the hearings held so far.
The court that judges this request for preventive arrest is the same one that rejected a similar request made by the prosecutors for Jay Y. lee last month. The prosecutors brought new evidence to support those accusations, but they also formulated two other new charges, but it is hard to say if they will be able to convince the judges.
Last time, Jay Y. Lee was detained for 24 hours in a detention center before the court ruled on the request for preventive detention, and the same thing could happen now. Jay Y. Lee maintains his innocence, and the lawyers hired by Samsung have managed to resist the prosecutors for now, but it remains to be seen what will happen in the future.
"A South Korean judge questioned Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee and another executive behind closed doors on Thursday to decide whether they should be arrested over their roles in a corruption scandal that has engulfed President Park Geun-hye. Prosecutors accuse Lee in his capacity as the head of South Korea's largest conglomerate of pledging 43 billion won ($37.7 million) to a business and organizations backed by Park's friend, Choi Soon-sil, in exchange for support of a 2015 merger of two Samsung companies .”
