The heir to the Samsung business empire is set to find out whether he will be arrested on corruption charges linked to a huge political scandal that has rattled South Korea.
Prosecutors are accusing Lee Jae-yong, Samsung’s de facto leader, of paying tens of millions of dollars to win government support for a controversial merger that helped tighten his grip on a key part of the giant conglomerate.
Lee, who’s also known as Jay Y. Lee, arrived for a court hearing in Seoul on Wednesday morning at which a judge will decide whether to issue a warrant for his arrest on charges of bribery, embezzlement and perjury.
The hearing is expected to go on for hours. A court official told CNN it’s possible the decision may not be announced until Thursday local time.
Lee, who was questioned for 22 hours last week, has denied any wrongdoing. Samsung also disputes the allegations, saying in a statement Monday that it “did not make contributions in order to receive favors.”
Prosecutors accuse Lee and Samsung of providing 43 billion won ($36.3 million) to organizations linked to a confidante of President Park Geun-hye in return for government backing of a contentious merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.
South Korea’s National Pension Service provided vital support for the deal, which enabled Lee to increase control over Samsung Electronics and helped pave the way for him to potentially succeed his ailing father as chairman of Samsung Group.
But the prosecutors’ pursuit of the case against Lee, a vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, has cast doubt on that plan.
Earlier this week, National Pension Service chief Moon Hyung-pyo was indicted on charges of perjury and abuse of power. He’s accused of pressuring the fund to support the Samsung merger when he was minister of health and welfare.
Lee and Moon’s cases are part of the far-reaching scandal that has driven hundreds of thousands of South Korean protestors to the streets and prompted lawmakers to vote to impeach Park. Other top South Korean companies are also under investigation.
Samsung’s deepening links to the corruption investigation have done further damage to the company’s image after the humiliating fiasco over its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last year. Results of an investigation into what caused the smartphones to catch fire are expected to be announced this month.
— Stella Ko contributed to this report.
