Samsung chief shifts bribery claim blame to president

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong walked relatively free Friday morning, more than 22 hours after turning up to be interrogated by a special investigation team in Seoul.

Often described as the group’s heir apparent, the 48-year-old was questioned over allegations his company paid tens of millions of dollars to ensure a smooth transition of power to Lee from his hospitalized father.

The claim is a key aspect of a wider corruption scandal that led to last month’s impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

Lee was allowed to return home at 7.50 a.m. having reportedly altered his previous parliamentary hearing testimony-- this time he told investigators the president forced his company to financially support her now detained private confidante Choi Soon-sil.

Lee may yet be arrested going forward, however, as an official said his “statement will only be a mitigating factor in the sentencing process”.

“Based on precedent, even if the bribe is given under pressure, the donor will be punished,” the official was quoted as saying by local news agency Yonhap.

Investigators summoned Lee as a suspect for the first time this week having gathered evidence pointing to a multi-million dollar contract between Samsung and a German company under the partial ownership of Choi.

Combined with the earlier revelation that Samsung was the biggest corporate backer of two nonprofit foundations linked to both the president and her confidante, suspicions have mounted in recent months about the nature of the National Pension Service’s (NPS) support for a merger of two of the conglomerate’s affiliates back in 2015.

The deal looked good for Lee, but less so for Samsung shareholders like the NPS -- the state-run pension fund.