South Korea prosecutors question Samsung CEO over corruption allegations News
South Korea prosecutors question Samsung CEO over corruption allegations

[JURIST] South Korean prosecutors Friday questioned Samsung [corporate website] Chairman and CEO Kun-Hee Lee [corporate profile] about allegations of corruption, including accusations that Samsung maintained a $200 million slush fund to bribe prosecutors, judges and civil servants. Former Samsung lawyer Yong-Chul Kim first raised the allegations in November 2007, but Samsung and Lee have denied that such a fund exists. Prosecutors are expected to complete their investigation later this month. BBC News has more. AP has additional coverage.

Samsung, South Korea's largest corporation, has been the center of numerous legal battles over the past few years. In May 2007, a South Korean appellate court upheld the conviction of two Samsung executives connected with illegal stock trading [JURIST reports]. In April 2007, another Samsung executive pleaded guilty [US DOJ press release; JURIST report] to US charges of conspiring to artificially inflate the cost of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), affecting the price of personal computers worldwide. In 2005, Samsung reached an agreement [JURIST report] with the US Department of Justice to plead guilty to charges that it conspired with other technology companies to fix prices on DRAM chips.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.