Samsung Group says it never paid bribes to S.Korea president

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Group said on Tuesday it never paid bribes to South Korean President Park Geun-hye or sought illicit favours from her, as a special prosecutor's office seeks to arrest the conglomerate's leader.

The prosecutor's office said earlier on Tuesday it filed a second request to arrest Jay Y. Lee, the third-generation leader of the country's top conglomerate, on charges including bribery, as part of a wider investigation into a graft scandal that led to Park's impeachment by parliament in December.

The prosecution accuses Lee of paying bribes to Park's confidant, Choi Soon-sil, to win support for a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.

 

Lee and the Samsung Group have denied wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Robert Birsel)