Samsung trial: No smoking gun even after 13 weeks

The trial of Jay Y Lee, heir to the Samsung Group empire, has featured thousands of pages of documents and hundreds of hours of testimony from dozens of witnesses. But experts say one thing is missing: a smoking gun.

The billionaire stands accused of paying bribes to South Korean President Park Geun-hye and then trying to conceal it, charges that he has denied. With the trial set to continue for another couple of months, the prosecution plans to call the nation’s former leader to testify as it seeks to prove Lee handed over millions of dollars to get a contentious merger approved.

“It’s true direct evidence is missing so far,” said Hong Jung-seok, a lawyer who previously worked with the special prosecution during their initial probe of Lee. “The best option for prosecutors is to make their argument as convincing as possible based on the indirect evidence they have.”

n Dubbed the “trial of the century” because of its link to an influence-peddling scandal that brought down the president and ensnared the country’s most powerful corporations, hearings have been marked by terse exchanges between prosecutors and the judge. Connecting the dots has been a time-consuming effort, extending past an initial May deadline for a verdict, with the prosecutors yet to finish their case before the defense team gets to present theirs.

If the trial isn’t wrapped up by the end of August, the six-month anniversary of Lee’s arrest, then the tycoon, who is also vice chairman of smartphone maker Samsung Electronics, must be set free in the absence of new charges.

Prosecutors allege Lee promised money to an equestrian foundation controlled by Park’s friend Choi Soon-sil. The payoff was designed to secure government backing for the contentious 2015 merger of Samsung affiliates that helped cement his control over the electronics business, they said. A former health minister has been convicted of abusing his power during the deal.

Defense lawyers said the merger was aimed at boosting the competitiveness of its units and had nothing to do with succession. They also said Park pressed Lee to fund the sports association without saying it would benefit Choi’s daughter, a competitive equestrian. The former president is standing trial separately and has denied wrongdoing, as has her friend Choi.

Among the evidence cited since the trial began in March are text messages from mobile phones used by Samsung executives and hand-written notes by a former presidential secretary.