South Korea's special prosecutor's office said it will charge Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee and four other executives with bribery and embezzlement, Reuters reports. Lee was arrested earlier this month over his alleged role in the corruption scandal involving Park Geun-hye, the impeached President of South Korea.
The Samsung executives are accused of channeling "donations" to a friend of Park in exchange for favours such as facilitating a merger among Samsung subsidiaries that allowed Lee to ascend to the position of vice-chairman. Lee will also be charged with committing perjury before parliament, following his earlier testimony on the political scandal. The other executives to be charged are Samsung Group vice chairman Choi Gee-sung and president Chang Choong-ki and Samsung Electronics president Park Sang-jin and executive vice president Hwang Sung-soo.
Following the news. Samsung announced plans to revamp the group's management, including the abolition of its key future strategy office, news agency Yonhap reported. The office consisted of some 200 elite officials who were picked from Samsung affiliates. It was in charge of handling government affairs, which critics said made it vulnerable to corruption. Lee announced last year plans to close the office. Choi and Chang, who led the future strategy office and face indictment over the scandal, have resigned, Samsung said.
Under the new structure, Samsung affiliates will independently make their own business decisions through their board meetings. The group will stop its weekly meeting of top executives on Wednesdays.
Last week, the board of Samsung Electronics also approved a new clause that aims to make donations more transparent. Any donation or sponsorship contract worth more than KRW 1 billion (USD 885,347) should be screened and approved by its board, the company said.
