Independent counsel seeks to extend investigation mandate
By Lee Kyung-min
The independent counsel team filed a request for an arrest warrant for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong for a second time, Tuesday, on charges of bribery involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
The Seoul Central District Court will hold a hearing to determine the validity of the team's request Thursday.
The team also sought an arrest warrant for Park Sang-jin, president of Samsung Electronics.
Park allegedly played a key role in carrying out Lee's orders on providing the financial support for Choi.
The Samsung heir returned home in the early morning Tuesday after 15 hours of questioning at the team's office in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul about the 43.3 billion-won ($38 million) the group gave to Choi. This was his second questioning after a district court rejected an arrest warrant requested Jan. 19.
Meanwhile, the team submitted a letter of intent to the National Assembly, asking for the extension of its mandate set to expire Feb. 28, responding to the opposition bloc's move to give it more time to thoroughly investigate the influence-peddling scandal.
The team's letter was in response to a request made by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and minor opposition People's Party seeking the team's opinion on revising the law to extend the mandate by 30 days.
"Given the results our ongoing investigation has produced thus far, we are considerably inclined to consider the extension," said the team spokesman Lee Kyu-chul during a press briefing.
"If the mandate expires without the extension, we cannot investigate further. But regardless of the extension, the team will continue to investigate in accordance with the law and principle," he added.
Earlier, DPK floor leader Woo Sang-ho said Monday that the National Assembly would pass a motion for the extension of the mandate, unless acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn expressed his stance on the extension soon.
Hwang has the authority to extend the mandate, as President Park was suspended from duty following the impeachment.
The team is time-pressed and has yet to indict key figures involved in the scandal including major business leaders who contributed to two foundations set up by Choi in exchange for favors.
The team's first arrest warrant request for the Samsung heir focused on allegations that President Park pressured the National Pension Service (NPS) to vote for a controversial merger of two Samsung Group affiliates ― Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries ― in exchange for the group's financial support for Choi's daughter Chung Yoo-ra, a dressage competitor.
However, after the request was denied, the team dug deeper into the bribery allegation focusing on Cheong Wa Dae's alleged influence with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in granting the group business favors.
As part of strengthened cross-shareholding guidelines, the FTC initially ordered Samsung SDI to sell off 10 million Samsung C&T shares.
However, it later allowed the group to sell only half the amount, part of which was purchased by Lee.
The counsel team has barely questioned any other business tycoons, remaining focused on Samsung.
Lotte Group is under suspicion that it gave 7 billion won to the two foundations ― Mir and K-Sports ― in exchange for favors with the group's duty free shop business.
The foundations returned the money in full shortly after the prosecution initiated a search on a number of the group's buildings including hotels and department stores, as part of group-wide corruption allegations. The suspicion is that Choi ordered them to do so with a tipoff to avoid being implicated in the bribery allegation.
SK and CJ both are suspected of contributing to the foundations, in exchange for presidential pardons of their group heads, Chey Tae-won and Lee Jae-hyun, respectively.
They contributed 11.1 billion won and 1.3 billion won, to the foundations. CJ had an additional plan to invest 1.4 trillion won in the Culture Creation and Convergence Belt, a culture ministry project spearheaded by Choi's former business associate Cha Eun-taek.
Both Chey and Lee were serving prison terms after being convicted of embezzlement and breach of trust. Chey was the only business leader granted a presidential pardon in 2015 while Lee was pardoned on Aug. 15, 2016. The groups have denied all allegations.
By Lee Kyung-min
The independent counsel team filed a request for an arrest warrant for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong for a second time, Tuesday, on charges of bribery involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
The Seoul Central District Court will hold a hearing to determine the validity of the team's request Thursday.
The team also sought an arrest warrant for Park Sang-jin, president of Samsung Electronics.
Park allegedly played a key role in carrying out Lee's orders on providing the financial support for Choi.
The Samsung heir returned home in the early morning Tuesday after 15 hours of questioning at the team's office in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul about the 43.3 billion-won ($38 million) the group gave to Choi. This was his second questioning after a district court rejected an arrest warrant requested Jan. 19.
Meanwhile, the team submitted a letter of intent to the National Assembly, asking for the extension of its mandate set to expire Feb. 28, responding to the opposition bloc's move to give it more time to thoroughly investigate the influence-peddling scandal.
The team's letter was in response to a request made by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and minor opposition People's Party seeking the team's opinion on revising the law to extend the mandate by 30 days.
"Given the results our ongoing investigation has produced thus far, we are considerably inclined to consider the extension," said the team spokesman Lee Kyu-chul during a press briefing.
"If the mandate expires without the extension, we cannot investigate further. But regardless of the extension, the team will continue to investigate in accordance with the law and principle," he added.
Earlier, DPK floor leader Woo Sang-ho said Monday that the National Assembly would pass a motion for the extension of the mandate, unless acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn expressed his stance on the extension soon.
Hwang has the authority to extend the mandate, as President Park was suspended from duty following the impeachment.
The team is time-pressed and has yet to indict key figures involved in the scandal including major business leaders who contributed to two foundations set up by Choi in exchange for favors.
The team's first arrest warrant request for the Samsung heir focused on allegations that President Park pressured the National Pension Service (NPS) to vote for a controversial merger of two Samsung Group affiliates ― Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries ― in exchange for the group's financial support for Choi's daughter Chung Yoo-ra, a dressage competitor.
However, after the request was denied, the team dug deeper into the bribery allegation focusing on Cheong Wa Dae's alleged influence with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in granting the group business favors.
As part of strengthened cross-shareholding guidelines, the FTC initially ordered Samsung SDI to sell off 10 million Samsung C&T shares.
However, it later allowed the group to sell only half the amount, part of which was purchased by Lee.
The counsel team has barely questioned any other business tycoons, remaining focused on Samsung.
Lotte Group is under suspicion that it gave 7 billion won to the two foundations ― Mir and K-Sports ― in exchange for favors with the group's duty free shop business.
The foundations returned the money in full shortly after the prosecution initiated a search on a number of the group's buildings including hotels and department stores, as part of group-wide corruption allegations. The suspicion is that Choi ordered them to do so with a tipoff to avoid being implicated in the bribery allegation.
SK and CJ both are suspected of contributing to the foundations, in exchange for presidential pardons of their group heads, Chey Tae-won and Lee Jae-hyun, respectively.
They contributed 11.1 billion won and 1.3 billion won, to the foundations. CJ had an additional plan to invest 1.4 trillion won in the Culture Creation and Convergence Belt, a culture ministry project spearheaded by Choi's former business associate Cha Eun-taek.
Both Chey and Lee were serving prison terms after being convicted of embezzlement and breach of trust. Chey was the only business leader granted a presidential pardon in 2015 while Lee was pardoned on Aug. 15, 2016. The groups have denied all allegations.
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