South Korea court refuses to issue arrest warrant for Samsung boss News
South Korea court refuses to issue arrest warrant for Samsung boss

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday refused a request by the prosecutor to issue a warrant of arrest against Jay Y Lee [Forbes profile], the chief of South Korea’s largest company, Samsung Group. Lee is accused of giving large donations to non-profit organizations run by a close friend of the President of South Korea, in exchange for governmental favors. Among the accusations is that Lee donated a total of USD $36.42 million to secure the 2015 merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries. Lee gave testimony earlier Wednesday before the court and then waited in detention while the court decided. In coming to its conclusion, the court reasoned that there was not sufficient evidence [BBC report] against Lee to detain him. Samsung Group has admitted to making the donations to the non-profit organizations but has denied any wrongdoing and rejected the allegation that they were expecting anything in return.

The focus on the relationship between the non-profits, the donations and the president started in 2016 and in November, the Parliament of South Korea appointed a special prosecutor [JURIST report] to investigate President Park Geun-hye for allegedly allowing individuals to influence state affairs. In November two of the President’s former aides and a close friend of the President were indicted on corruption charges [JURIST report]. The investigation led to the impeachment of the president [JURIST report], accused of sharing confidential governmental information and extorting millions of dollars from large corporations. The investigation led to the donations made by Samsung Group and on Monday, the special prosecutor asked the court to grant an arrest order [JURIST report] for Lee.

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