By Kim Rahn Staff Reporter Samsung Group admitted for the first time Wednesday that it managed accounts opened under borrowed names containing 2 trillion won ($2 billion). The independent counsel's team probing the conglomerate is focusing its investigation on verifying the exact number of such accounts and the source of the money. Samsung claims the money is not a slush fund. It says the money was bequeathed by the late group founder Lee Byung-chul to his son and current Chairman Lee Kun-hee ― the same claim it made for Samsung Life Insurance shares, which the chairman registered under 11 executives' names. Samsung's strategic planning office vice president Choi Kwang-hae, who was summoned Monday, submitted to the counsel a list of stock accounts which the group opened under its former and incumbent executives' names, according to an investigator. The office is suspected of having led the group's alleged illegalities, including slush fund creation and bribery. The number of Samsung Securities accounts on the list reached 700, with more than 2 trillion won kept in them, the investigator said. The counsel's team said earlier this month that it had found 1,300 accounts suspected of being opened using borrowed-names. The investigator said the team is comparing the list of 700 accounts with its own list of 1,300 ― as the numbers of accounts on the two lists differ, it has demanded Samsung submit additional lists. By submitting the list, Samsung reversed its previous claim that there were no accounts under false or borrowed names. However, the group now admits the existence of such accounts, but claims the money is not used as slush funds. Samsung's claim, if endorsed by the team, will enable the chairman's family to avoid charges of as embezzlement and breach of trust. A tax evasion charge may not be filed against the family as well, as the statute of limitation has expired. The counsel is making efforts to find the origin of the money ― whether it is really from the late founder or it is slush funds the group created through illegal deals among its affiliates as a Samsung whistleblower claimed. ``We are examining money flow in the accounts, but are having difficulty as the money transactions were made a decade ago,'' the investigator said. rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr