Samsung Electronics vice chairman and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong dodged arrested two weeks ago when the Seoul Central District Court rejected an arrest warrant request put forward by the special prosecutor’s office that’s looking into allegations of embezzlement and bribery against Samsung in connection with South Korea’s influence-peddling scandal. Samsung allegedly paid more than $35 million in bribes to organizations and foundations run by Choi Soon-sil, a close personal friend of President Park Geun-hye, to gain influence.
According to a new report out of Korea on Sunday, the independent investigation team that’s looking into this corruption scandal is likely to seek an arrest warrant once again for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong. The team is reportedly considering to try and get an arrest warrant for the Samsung heir once it’s done with the face-to-face investigation of the president by early next month.
The court denied the first warrant request because it didn’t consider Lee to be a flight risk and saw no need to detain him even though the investigation still continues. Whether the prosecutors will be able to make a stronger case for arrest the second time around remains to be seen.
