By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Prosecutors raided Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee's office in Seoul Monday alongside homes of six other key executives in the independent counsel's probe into the group's alleged bribery and slush fund creation.
It is the first time that investigators have raided the chairman's office during the 70-year history of the nation's largest conglomerate and the blitzkrieg raid indicates that Lee may not avoid being summoned for questioning.
Prosecutors from the investigation team of special prosecutor Cho Joon-woong seized documents and computers. The locations raided include the chairman's office called Seungjiwon near his home; vice chairman Lee Hak-soo's home in southern Seoul; president Kim In-joo's home in southern Seoul and a cottage in Gyeonggi Province; vice president Choi Kwang-hae's home in southern Seoul; and homes of three executives and employees who are suspected of opening borrowed-name accounts to create a slush fund.
The simultaneous raids meant that the independent counsel has secured evidence about Samsung's alleged irregularities or received a tip that key evidence may be kept at those workers' homes.
The counsel targeted key individuals allegedly involved in the affair. All of the executives and workers, except for the chairman, belong to the strategic planning office that manages the group's financial affairs.
The executives allegedly orchestrated the group's slush fund raising, bribery, and illegal wealth transfer from the chairman to his son Jae-yong through questionable bonds deal.
It is also expected the special prosecutor may raid the strategic planning office at Samsung headquarters, as the office allegedly played a key role in the group's illegalities.
Before the case was handed over to the independent counsel, the prosecution raided Samsung's three subsidiaries in late November.
Seungjiwon used to be the house of the late Samsung founder and former chairman Lee Byung-chull. After he passed away in 1987, his son and current chairman Lee remodeled it as his office and guesthouse ― that is why Seungjiwon is called Samsung's mecca, with major decisions about management being made there.
The chairman has another office in the group headquarters in central Seoul, but he usually stays in Seungjiwon, literally meaning inheriting the management philosophy of the later founder Lee.
In the meantime, Samsung's whistleblower and former lawyer Kim Yong-chul submitted to the counsel a memo about the alleged high-end painting purchase by the chairman's wife Hong Ra-hee through an art gallery.
Kim claimed that Hong allegedly bought art pieces with part of the group's slush funds. He also handed over the list of 68 Samsung executives who need to be investigated over the slush fund management.