Arrest warrant against Samsung heir on bribery charges

A South Korean court on Friday issued an arrest warrant against the heir to the Samsung business empire, country's largest family-controlled conglomerate, on charges of corruption.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is facing bribery charges linked to the corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

A judge at the Seoul Central District Court said there was enough justification to issue the warrant for Lee Jae-yong given the newly added criminal charges and newly collected evidences, reports Xinhua.

Lee faced an immediate incarceration at a detention center south of Seoul, where he had been waiting for the announcement made at about 5:40 a.m. local time.

Prosecutors allege that Lee pledged tens of millions of dollars to win favour with President Park Geun-hye and secure government support for a controversial merger that helped tighten his grip on the conglomerate. They are accusing him of bribery, perjury, concealing criminal profits, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas.

Samsung and Lee have denied the allegations.

The merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries was extremely crucial to the Samsung's third-generation leader to inherit the management control from his father Lee Kun-hee who was incapacitated in 2014 for heart attack.

Meanwhile, the warrant to detain Samsung Electronics President Park Sang-jin was denied for his limited authority, position and role in the case.