Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong charged with stock manipulation in 2015 merger deal
- Prosecutors said Lee committed breach of trust and other offences when two Samsung units merged in 2015, which gave him greater control of the group
- Lee is already separately being retried on charges of bribery in connection with the corruption scandal that brought down former president Park
Lee Jae-yong, vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, committed stock manipulation, breach of trust and other offences when two other subsidiaries, Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, merged in 2015, the prosecutors said.
Ten other current and former top Samsung executives were also charged.
Lee and his subordinates had carried out “a systemic scheme to take control of the Samsung Group with the least cost”, said the prosecution, by deploying “various unfair transactions”.
“We took into account the gravity of the issue, which disturbed the order of the capital market,” said Lee Bok-hyun, senior prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.
The vice-chairman’s lawyers denied the allegations in a statement, calling the indictment unjust, but said the defendants will “conscientiously participate” in a trial.
