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South Korea Prosecutors Seek Arrest of Samsung Chief Jay Y Lee For Bribery (cnbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the fraud-alert dept.

South Korea's special prosecutors' office said it will seek a warrant to arrest the head of Samsung Group, the country's biggest conglomerate, accusing him of paying multi-million dollar bribes to a friend of President Park Geun-hye. From a report: Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee was questioned for 22 straight hours last week as investigators probed a corruption scandal that resulted in parliament impeaching Park last month. The special prosecutors' office accused Lee of paying bribes totaling 43 billion won ($36.42 million) to Choi Soon-sil, a friend of the president who is at the center of scandal. Lee, who became the de facto head of the Samsung Group after his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack in 2014, was also accused of embezzlement and perjury in the prosecution's application for an arrest warrant.

38 comments

  1. And not the first by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    And not the first, or last. The absolute amount of bullshit that's gone on in S.Korea in the last decade should be a warning to people of just how bad things can get. The entire case that triggered this has pretty much everything from bribery to handing off classified information, cronyism at levels that would make the most corrupt politician drool and add in a dose of literally following a cult and implementing those ideas on an unwilling population? Oh yeah, this isn't even close to being over yet. Haven't even touched on the whole "possession of erotica can get you sent to jail" stuff, which was one of those great cultist ideas.

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    Om, nomnomnom...
    1. Re:And not the first by youngone · · Score: 2
      I'm pretty sure it's been going on for a lot longer than the last 10 years, it's the whole basis of the Korean economic miracle.

      After the Korean War, South Korea was a poor agrarian country, barely able to feed itself, in fact the standard of living was higher in North Korea.

      The Chaebols dealt with (and probably created) whatever Government was in power, there were years of brutal Military dictatorships with South Korea only being a democracy since about 1987.

      The Chaebols are so powerful within South Korea that I'm not even sure corruption is the right term here, it might just be how things are done there.

      It would be good to have a Korean's perspective.

    2. Re:And not the first by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, it's a great testament to South Korean democracy and rule of law that the head of the company who controls practically a fifth of South Korea's GDP and the head of state can be brought to justice.

    3. Re:And not the first by CODiNE · · Score: 1

      That's one nice thing... on the other hand... would be nice if the United Nations Human Rights Committee could get those 700+ Jehovah's Witness boys out of prison for declining their army invitations. S Korean govt won't budge.

      Still many basic human rights violations going on over there.

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      Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
    4. Re:And not the first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, something like that would never in the US where bribery is practically legal when you're rich enough..

    5. Re:And not the first by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      Well you can bet that if Norway was in a perpetual state of war with Russia like S.Korea is with N.Korea they wouldn't allow exceptions either. There's a reason why they don't allow people to opt out for conscription like that there. I get the point you're trying to make, but things are fundamentally different when the nearest country is the one you've been at war with for 50+ years.

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      Om, nomnomnom...
    6. Re:And not the first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Don't fool yourself. In SK there is no difference between the Chaebol and government.

      This is a purely political move. One political party is pulling a move on another.

    7. Re:And not the first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it? Or is this a sign that he's considered a threat by the incoming government? Remember, the richest man in Russia and China are also in prison.

    8. Re:And not the first by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      Thought provoking comment.

    9. Re:And not the first by TechnoJoe · · Score: 1

      What does that say about the US (e.g. Goldman Sachs)?

  2. Haven't these people learned? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Samsung should have just hired him to give some speeches, nothing illegal about that!

  3. They were fine with corruption till BatteryGate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gotta get all the money they can before Samsung collapses.

    1. Re:They were fine with corruption till BatteryGate by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Fine with corruption? Hardly. Samsung has a long history of engaging in bribing government officials and getting caught. I talked about some of this a few months back when news came out that federal agents had raided Samsung Group to collect evidence of these crimes that they're now charging them with. To say the least, their corruption spans multiple generations and is wide-ranging enough to include everything from "mild" issues of business ethics like nepotism to more serious issues of government corruption that have the potential to topple the head of the country.

      I recall an article a few years ago that did some investigative work into the people they were bribing at the time. It was able to tie their bribes to people engaging in everything from illegal drug trafficking to sex slaves. And I believe it was the same article that talked about how Samsung would also spy on reporters who were invited to media events, bugging their hotels and doing other things of that sort in order to ensure favorable reviews of their products. Some files apparently leaked that showed they were listening in and trying to collect dirt on the reporters, just in case the reviews didn't meet their satisfaction.

  4. Yes but Apple their chief competitor by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

    CEO of Apple screwed his business partner Wozniak out of hundreds of dollars by lying about his Atari chip bonus. That's pretty corrupt too, no?

    1. Re:Yes but Apple their chief competitor by hey! · · Score: 1

      Jobs was a high functioning sociopath. Woz was a goose that laid golden eggs. The thing is people like Woz can sometimes end up doing better under someone who exploits them than on their own, as long as the exploitation is sufficiently impersonal.

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      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Yes but Apple their chief competitor by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Jobs was a high functioning sociopath. Woz was a goose that laid golden eggs. The thing is people like Woz can sometimes end up doing better under someone who exploits them than on their own, as long as the exploitation is sufficiently impersonal.

      Yes, but Woz said he never quite trusted Jobs after that...

    3. Re:Yes but Apple their chief competitor by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Maybe that's why he stopped laying golden eggs?

    4. Re:Yes but Apple their chief competitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple is not the chief competitor to Samsung, or even really a competitor in general. They only compete on a few specific types of products. Apple does not make ships, power tools, pharmaceutical products, electric components and chemicals and it does not run a bank or sell insurance. Samsung, on the other hand, is not in the apps or music business.

    5. Re:Yes but Apple their chief competitor by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Maybe that's why he stopped laying golden eggs?

      Like a lot of "creative types", he kinda got bored with the increasingly-corporate-attitude of the Apple management at the time (keep in mind that this is the same management that drove Jobs away, too), and puttered-off to pursue other endeavors.

      He is still on the board of many tech-oriented companies, usually as a creative-consultant kind of guy.

      Plus, I get the feeling that he kinda likes being on "permanent vacation"...

  5. Re: They were fine with corruption till BatteryGat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This isn't even the first time that Samsung has been hit with bribery charges. In addition to their theft, price fixing, collusion, rushing to market unsafe designs, recall dodging, and other anticompetitive and customer unfriendly practices, I hope the company gets a good deep governmental dicking up their corporate asshole, complete with a perforated financial colon.

    Maybe South Korea will go all AT&T with it and break them apart into separate companies, and each one can try to salvage some reputation.

  6. Re:Harumph by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is everyone on Slashdot this racist? This is my first time here and I was hoping I landed on a good community, but it seems I was wrong...

  7. What passes for corporate government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in the Asian pacific. Cultures of corruption, all.

  8. Heart Attack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Umm... which one had the heart attack?

  9. WTF are you expecting? by diesalesmandie · · Score: 1

    Is everyone on Slashdot this racist? This is my first time here and I was hoping I landed on a good community, but it seems I was wrong...

    This is the internet, its not like people are using their real names and addresses; when there is no accountability...

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    This is my sig, there are many like it but this one is mine
    1. Re:WTF are you expecting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he's just trolling, and so are you (most likely).

    2. Re:WTF are you expecting? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Oops sorry, this ^^^ was attached to the wrong parent.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  10. Re:Harumph by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Up yours niggar!

  11. Re:Harumph by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, he's just trolling...and so are you (most likely).

  12. Drag the sliders to the "1" position by execthis · · Score: 1

    First thing I do when reading any comments is to drag the little sliders over to the "1" position. It helps substantially. Also best to never reply to any AC posts because others may also be filtering them out.

  13. Good Old US of A by Princeofcups · · Score: 1

    It's a shame that the same thing happens every day in the good old USA, except it's legal campaign contributions and lobbying. So there's no longer any chance of a scandal or prosecution. Just business as usual.

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    The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
  14. Re:Harumph by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  15. 2010 book by Kim Young-Cheol by GlobalEcho · · Score: 1

    There's a book titled (roughly) "Think Samsung" that was published in 2010 (link). It's said to give a disturbing picture of Samsung's corruption, and was even reviewed in The New York Times. It was written by Samsung's former chief legal counsel.

    In his book, Mr. Kim depicts Mr. Lee and “vassal” executives at Samsung as bribing thieves who “lord over” the country, its government and media. He portrays prosecutors as opportunists who are ruthless to those they regard as “dead” powers, like a former president, but subservient to and afraid of Samsung, which he calls the “power that never dies.”

  16. No phones in jail by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    If he gets a Samsung one, he might blow his way out of jail.