Samsung vice-chairman Lee Jae-jong is wanted to for questioning by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, together with former executive Choi Gee-sung and Kim Jong-joong, Yonhap News reported. The prosecutors have filed an arrest warrant for the three executives, suspecting them of artificially inflating the value of Samsung unit Cheil Industries, an electronics materials provider, before its 2015 merger with Samsung C&T. Lee was the largest shareholder in Cheil Industries.
The idea behind the plan would have been to facilitate Lee’s managerial succession to his ailing father, Lee Kun-hee. Prosecutors have also been looking into suspected window dressing by Samsung Biologics, a subsidiary of Cheil Industries in 2015. Lee has denied the claims.
Lee, sentenced in 2017 to five years of prison for bribery and embezzlement, was released from jail the year after with a reduced sentence. He gave a formal apology this year for all of the succession scandals. He promised better communication and to allow unions within the company.
