Seoul court blocks arrest of Samsung heir on bribery charge

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A South Korean court on Thursday rejected a request from prosecutors to detain the heir apparent of Samsung Group, the country's biggest family-controlled conglomerate, despite charges of bribery, perjury and embezzlement.

The arrest warrant for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was dismissed by the court, which made a marathon deliberation for almost 15 hours. The independent counsel team investigating the scandal involving President Park Geun-hye requested Lee's detention on Monday.

Lee, who had been waiting for the determination at a Seoul detention center, will return home immediately. The rejection indicated lack of evidence to prove the charges which the special prosecutors leveled against the Samsung heir.

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung, leaves after attending a court hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on January 18, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea./CFP Photo

The court said that it would be hard at the current stage to justify the arrest.

Samsung is suspected of bribing President Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil and Choi's daughter in return for getting support from the national pension fund for the merger in July 2015 of two Samsung affiliates.

The merger to create a de-facto holding company was crucial to the heir apparent to inherit overall management control from his ailing father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who has been hospitalized for over two and a half years after a heart attack.

This file photo taken on December 6, 2016 shows Samsung Group's heir-apparent Lee Jae-yong answering a question during a parliamentary probe into a scandal engulfing President Park Geun-hye at the National Assembly in Seoul./CFP Photo

Prosecutors contended that Park and Choi had shared private interests, saying Samsung provided about 43 billion won (37 million US dollars) in financial assistance to two foundations and a German company controlled by Choi.

Samsung donated 20.4 billion won, the biggest sum among over 50 conglomerates, to the Mir and K-Sports foundations. It signed a 21.3-billion-won contract with a Choi-owned firm in Germany to support the equestrian training of her daughter, while offering some 1.6 billion won to a winter sports center managed by Choi's niece.

Visitors look at television monitors by Samsung Electronics during the Korea Electronics Grand Fair at an exhibition hall in Seoul on October 27, 2016./CFP Photo

In exchange for the kickbacks, President Park is suspected of ordering the former health and welfare minister, who is now in custody, to pressure the National Pension Service (NPS) into voting for the Samsung merger.

The NPS was then the biggest shareholder of Samsung C&T, a construction unit which in effect became the holding company of Samsung after the merger. The impeached leader and the Samsung heir met face-to-face around the time of the merger.

Refuting the accusations, Lee's legal team reportedly denied any quid-pro-quo in the financial assistance, which it said had been provided for fear of getting business dis-benefits when rejecting the president's request.

(With inputs from Xinhua)

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