SEOUL, Feb. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Lee Jae-yong, Samsung’s de facto leader, again showed up in handcuffs (covered with cloth) at the special prosecution’s office in Gangnam, Wednesday afternoon, for the third interrogation session since his arrest on February 17.
South Korea’s third richest man (Forbes, 2016), after his father Lee Kun-hee and AmorePacific chairman Suh Kyung-bae, was arrested on five charges related to President Park Geun-hye’s influence-peddling scandal.
The focus of the investigation, however, is on the highly-disputed merger of two Samsung affiliates – Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries – in 2015, which the prosecution team believes was made possible under President Park’s watch, in return for monetary favors to her confidante Choi Soon-sil and her controversial businesses.
The team is likely to have Lee indicted by the end of the week, before its investigation deadline on February 28.
Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
