Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong to be indicted on bribery charges

Four other company executives have been indicted on similar bribery charges.

FILE - In this Tuesday, June 23, 2015, file photo, Lee Jae-yong, vice president of Samsung Electronics Co., bites his lips during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

South Korean prosecutors said they would indict the Samsung conglomerate’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong on charges of bribery and four other offences, setting in motion legal proceedings that could put the tycoon behind bars for years.

The 48-year-old vice chairman of Samsung Electronics was arrested February 17 but prosecutors didn’t press formal charges until their Tuesday deadline. In addition to bribery, prosecutors accuse Mr Lee of embezzlement, perjury, hiding assets abroad and concealing profit gained from criminal acts. Four other Samsung executives were indicted on similar charges.

A spokesman for the prosecutors said at a news conference they would indict Mr Lee and the other four Samsung officials Tuesday.

Mr Lee is at the centre of the investigation into a scandal that has rocked South Korea’s political and corporate establishments and led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. The country’s Constitutional Court is expected to decide within weeks whether to remove her from office.

Prosecutors have spent months building a case against Mr Lee in connection with about $37 million in payments made by Samsung to entities allegedly controlled by a friend of Ms. Park. Prosecutors allege the payments were made in exchange for government backing of a contentious merger of two Samsung affiliates that consolidated Mr Lee’s control of Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker.

Mr Lee has denied wrongdoing, as have Ms Park and her friend, Choi Soon-sil. Samsung acknowledges the payments but denies they were for political gain. Mr Lee told prosecutors he felt coerced by Ms Park into making payments, investigators have said.

A Samsung spokeswoman didn’t have an immediate comment regarding Mr Lee’s indictment.

The Wall Street Journal