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Samsung's Acting Chief Is Arrested Over Blackmail And Bribery

Samsung's Acting Chief Is Arrested Over Blackmail And Bribery

More bad news.

Laura Hamilton

Laura Hamilton

Lee Jae-yong, the third-generation head of Samsung and the acting president since his father's heart attack three years ago, has been arrested in a wide-ranging scandal in South Korea.

He was questioned in January and they didn't have enough evidence to charge him. Now Authorities saying he went through an associate to bribe the president to get preferential treatment and deals for Samsung.

Lee Jae-yong is alleged to have paid £30million in bribes to Choi Soon-sil, who is said to have huge sway with president Park Geun-hye.

Lee Jae-yong. Credit: PA

The scandal is threatening to depose the first ever female president from office. Park had already been suspended due to her involvement in the case.

The 48-year old head of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, is going to be formally accused of bribery, embezzlement, hiding assets overseas and perjury. He spent last night in a detention centre in Seoul.

Samsung hasn't decided if it's going to pay his bail.

"We will do our best to ensure that the truth is revealed in future court proceedings," the tech company said. It has denied any wrongdoing and admitted that although it donated to two foundations belonging to Choi Soon-sil, it didn't expect anything in return from the government.

They have 10 days to indict him and then the trial will be held around three months after that.

Samsung is not having a great time as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has a tendency to explode.

The safest place to hold it. Credit: PA

It was all down to the lithium batteries, which were faulty. They had to recall one million phones and replace them. But at least five of the replacement phones spontaneously caught fire, too, so Samsung recalled every single Galaxy Note 7 and halted production of them.


Source: BBC and Financial Times

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Samsung, Arrest