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| Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee is surrounded by media as he leaves the office of the independent counsel in Seoul, South Korea, January 13, 2017. Kim Do-hoon/Yonhap via REUTERS |
South Korean prosecutors will decide on Monday whether the head of Samsung Group, the country’s biggest conglomerate, should be arrested as an influence-peddling scandal engulfing impeached President Park Geun-hye’s government gained momentum.
Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee was questioned for 22 straight hours last week as investigators probe a scandal that has reached the highest levels of power.
National Pension Service (NPS) chairman Moon Hyung-pyo was indicted on charges of abuse of power and giving false testimony on Monday, while Park’s friend and the woman at the center of the scandal, Choi Soon-sil, appeared before the Constitutional Court to deny wrongdoing.
Park remains in office but has been stripped of her powers while the Constitutional Court decides whether to make her the country’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.
Moon was arrested in December after acknowledging ordering the world’s third-largest pension fund to support the $8 billion merger in 2015 of two Samsung affiliates while he was head of the health ministry, which oversees the NPS.
Samsung has acknowledged providing funds to the three institutions but has repeatedly denied accusations of lobbying to push through the merger.
Choi is accused of colluding with Park to pressure big businesses, including Samsung, to contribute to non-profit foundations backing the president’s initiatives.
“NO ULTERIOR MOTIVES”
Choi, in detention and on trial on charges of abuse of power and attempted fraud, again denied wrongdoing on Monday.
She said she had access to a former presidential aide’s email address which had Blue House (presidential office) documents, but that she only looked at Park’s speeches for “emotional expression”.
Choi described Park as “a person without ulterior motives” who “does not allow people to take private interest or take private interest herself”.
South Korea has been gripped by political crisis for months, with Park impeached in December. Park has also denied wrongdoing, though admitted carelessness in her relationship with Choi.
If the impeachment is upheld by the Constitutional Court, an election would be held in two months, with former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expected to be a candidate.
Former opposition party leader Moon Jae-in maintained his lead in an opinion poll for presidential favorites, while Ban tightened the gap in second place, a Realmeter survey commissioned by the Maeil Business Newspaper showed on Monday.
The special prosecutors’ office had said it would make a decision on Samsung’s Lee on Sunday, but needed more time to deliberate all factors, including the potential economic impact.
The drama doesn’t seem to have put off investors. South Korea rang in the new year with Asia’s first sovereign bond, pricing the $1 billion, 10-year issue well below the initially indicated yield as global investors rushed to buy.
The won and shares fell on Monday, but domestic politics weren’t seen as a major factor.
