[JURIST] Five Samsung executives, including the head of Samsung Group [corporate website], Jay Y. Lee, on Thursday denied [press release, in Korean] all bribery, embezzlement and corruption charges levied against them. During a preliminary hearing at the Seoul Central District Court [official website, in Korean], the Samsung defense team argued that the evidence gathered by the special prosecutor includes numerous conversations and other various testimonies that were not gathered in accordance with Korean evidence rules. Additionally, Samsung attorneys argued that many of the statements in the indictment of Lee were opinions of the prosecutor and not matters of fact. The trial is estimated to last three months.

The past several months have been an embarrassing turn of events both for Samsung and the South Korea Government. Two weeks ago South Korea’s special prosecutor indicted [JURIST report] Choi and former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon on charges of bribery, coercion and abuse of power for their roles in creating a blacklist of opposition artists. In November, the Parliament of South Korea [official website] appointed a special prosecutor [JURIST report] to investigate Park for allegedly allowing individuals to influence state affairs. The investigation led to the impeachment of Park [JURIST report], who has been accused of sharing confidential governmental information and extorting millions of dollars from large corporations. That investigation led to the discovery Samsung and Lee’s involvement.