By Kim Rahn
A court decision not to arrest Samsung Group chief Lee Jae-yong is likely to affect the independent counsel’s investigation into President Park Geun-hye’s bribery allegations involving the group and other conglomerates.
Even though the counsel team says it will continue its probe regardless, concerns are that it may lose its driving force to investigate other companies in the corruption scandal involving Park and her friend Choi Soon-sil, because the arrest warrant request for Lee was a milestone.
The Seoul Central District Court rejected the warrant request, Thursday, citing insufficient evidence to charge Lee with bribery. It is alleged that Samsung provided 43 billion won ($37 million) to Choi in the guise of donations to companies set up by Choi and her cronies in return for business favors from Park. The investigators regarded the money as a bribe to the President.
But the court said there was room for dispute as to if the donation was in pursuit of favors. The warrant rejection means the court partially accepted Samsung’s claim that it provided the funds due to “coercion” from powerful figures, including Park, not in exchange for favors.
Lee Kyu-chul, the spokesman for special prosecutor Park Young-soo, said, “It seems the court has a different view from the counsel team concerning the allegations.”
With the failure to arrest Lee, the alleged provider of bribes, the counsel team may come up with a Plan B in order to apply bribery charges to Park.
While it has to devise a new approach toward the charges, it cannot delay the face-to-face questioning of the President considering its probe will be finished at the end of February unless acting president Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn approves an extension period of 30 days.
The team said it will question Park in early February. “We will take the necessary steps, such as setting a questioning date with Park’s attorneys,” the spokesman said. He added:, “Early-February questioning is our plan, but it can be changed according to circumstances.”
While Park earlier said she would cooperate with the independent counsel’s investigation, it is also possible for her to refuse questioning as she did last year when the prosecution was investigating the allegations. The counsel team has no legal ground to forcibly question the President if she refuses.
At the beginning of the investigation, the team pledged to conduct searches of several locations in Cheong Wa Dae, such as the security office and clinic, which are not considered classified zones. This was because the presidential office refused to allow the prosecution to search them in October, saying no place could be searched due to the presence of classified state information.
Cheong Wa Dae instead handed over only limited documents to the prosecution.
A presidential official said the office could refuse to allow a counsel team’s search as well and only hand over necessary materials, again citing security reasons.