South Korea court reassigns Samsung case to new trial judge News
South Korea court reassigns Samsung case to new trial judge

The Seoul Central District Court said on Friday that it has reassigned the bribery case [Reuters report] of Samsung Group‘s [corporate website] would-be chief Jae-yong Lee [Forbes profile] to a new judge, after reports surfaced on Thursday concerning the previous judge’s connection to a woman Lee is accused of bribing. The father-in-law of Young-hoon Lee, the judge who presided over the March 9 pre-trial hearing of Jae-yong and four former and current Samsung executives, was accused the previous day by an opposition lawmaker of proving financial support to Soon-sil Choi, a prime person of interest in the corruption scandal involving the recently impeached [JURIST report] president Geun-hye Park [BBC profile]. Refusing to comment on any specifics, the court stated that Young-hoon’s father-in-law has denied the allegations and said that he has not met or contacted Choi or her family since the 1979 assassination of Guen-hye’s father and former president Chung-hee Park [Britannica profile].

This development comes within three days of the announcement [JURIST report] of the South Korea Supreme Prosecutors’ Office [official website, in Korean] of plans to question ousted president Geun-hye about her involvement in the corruption scandal that led to her impeachment. Last week the South Korea Constitutional Court [official website] upheld [JURIST report] parliament’s decision to impeach Park over a scandal related to government bribes paid by Samsung. Earlier this month five Samsung executives denied charges [JURIST report] of bribery, embezzlement and corruption that were leveled against them in connection with Park. In February Samsung’s head Jae-yong was arrested [JURIST report] on charges of bribery and undue influence in connection with the scandal. Now that Park will not have political immunity it leaves her open to being joined in a number of lawsuits that have been leveled in connection to the scandal, which may include the indictment [JURIST report] of former culture minister Yoon-sun Cho and former presidential chief of staff Ki-choon Kim over the coercion, abuse of power and perjury due to suppression of artists involved with the impeachment process.

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