Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong receives interviews before questioning in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 12, 2017. The heir apparent of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, appeared in the office of an independent counsel team investigating a scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye for his alleged involvement in bribery charges. (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho)
This time around, Vice Chairman Lee stood in front of journalists, before being quizzed as a suspect for a bribery charge related to the July 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates to create a de facto holding company that will let the heir apparent inherit the group's overall control from his ailing father.
Chairman Lee has been hospitalized for heart attack since May 2014. The younger Lee has steered the Samsung empire, of which businesses range from electronic products to construction, finance and shipbuilding.
Samsung is suspected of having provided financial assistance to foundations and a company company controlled by Park's longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, at the center of the influence-peddling scandal, in return for getting support from the national pension fund in the 2015 merger.
The merger between Samsung C&T, a construction unit, and Cheil Industries, a former de facto holding company, was controversial as foreign shareholders, led by the U.S.-based hedge fund Elliott Management, opposed it for an unfair exchange ratio.
The National Pension Service (NPS), then the biggest shareholder of Samsung C&T, backed the controversial merger despite pessimistic assessment from outside advisory groups. NPS chief Moon Hyung-pyo has been in custody as he acknowledged his pressure of the NPS on voting for the merger while he was the health and welfare minister.
