SEOUL: South Korea’s special prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday it had expanded charges against Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee to include hiding the proceeds of a criminal act before it decided to seek a warrant for his arrest for a second time.
Lee, the third-generation leader of South Korea’s top conglomerate, has been identified as a suspect by prosecutors in an influence-peddling scandal that could topple President Park Geun-hye. He was questioned for more than 15 hours straight this week, his second marathon grilling in a month.
The decision to add extra charges, which included hiding assets overseas, was made after a Seoul court denied prosecutors’ first attempt to secure an arrest warrant for Lee last month, a spokesman for the special prosecutor’s office said.
“For three weeks, we secured additional evidence that we can be sure about, and after careful deliberation have requested (an arrest warrant) for the second time,” spokesman Lee Kyu-chul told reporters without elaborating.
South Korea’s special prosecutor has focused on Samsung Group’s relationship with Park, accusing Lee in his capacity as Samsung chief of pledging 43 billion won ($37.7 million) to a business and organizations backed by Park’s friend, Choi Soon-sil, in exchange for support of a 2015 merger of two Samsung companies.
Park, Choi, and Samsung Group have denied bribery accusations.
Park was impeached by parliament in December and South Korea’s Constitutional Court will decide whether to uphold that decision. She has been stripped of her powers in the meantime.
The prosecution is also bringing an additional charge of perjury against Lee.
They have also requested an arrest warrant for Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. President Park Sang-jin, who was also questioned on Monday. The charges he and Lee face also include bribery and embezzlement.
A Seoul court said on Tuesday it would hold a hearing on the request for arrest warrants at 10:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Thursday. Based on previous instances, the court’s decision is expected late on Thursday or most likely early Friday.
The prosecution also said it would decide later whether to seek charges against three other Samsung executives. Samsung Group President Chang Choon-ki was also questioned on Sunday and another executive on Monday.
On Wednesday, Samsung Group repeated an earlier denial on its official Twitter account: “Samsung has absolutely never bribed the president seeking something in return or sought illicit favors.”
“We will do our best for the truth to be revealed in court,” it said.
Earlier this month, prosecutors searched the offices of the antitrust agency, the Korea Fair Trade Commission, and financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission, as part of their investigation of Samsung Group.
The special prosecution office’s mandate to conduct the graft investigation will expire on Feb. 28, unless it is extended.
South Korea prosecutor says expands charges against Samsung chief
South Korea prosecutor says expands charges against Samsung chief
WHO chief says reasons US gave for withdrawing ‘untrue’
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a joint statement Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO
- And in a post on X, Tedros added: “Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue”
GENEVA: The head of the UN’s health agency on Saturday pushed back against Washington’s stated reasons for withdrawing from the World Health Organization, dismissing US criticism of the WHO as “untrue.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that US announcement this week that it had formally withdrawn from the WHO “makes both the US and the world less safe.”
And in a post on X, he added: “Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue.”
He insisted: “WHO has always engaged with the US, and all Member States, with full respect for their sovereignty.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a joint statement Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO.
They accused the agency, of numerous “failures during the Covid-19 pandemic” and of acting “repeatedly against the interests of the United States.”
The WHO has not yet confirmed that the US withdrawal has taken effect.
- ‘Trashed and tarnished’ -
The two US officials said the WHO had “trashed and tarnished” the United States, and had compromised its independence.
“The reverse is true,” the WHO said in a statement.
“As we do with every Member State, WHO has always sought to engage with the United States in good faith.”
The agency strenuously rejected the accusation from Rubio and Kennedy that its Covid response had “obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives and then concealed those failures.”
Kennedy also suggested in a video posted to X Friday that the WHO was responsible for “the Americans who died alone in nursing homes (and) the small businesses that were destroyed by reckless mandates” to wear masks and get vaccinated.
The US withdrawal, he insisted, was about “protecting American sovereignty, and putting US public health back in the hands of the American people.”
Tedros warned on X that the statement “contains inaccurate information.”
“Throughout the pandemic, WHO acted quickly, shared all information it had rapidly and transparently with the world, and advised Member States on the basis of the best available evidence,” the agency said.
“WHO recommended the use of masks, vaccines and physical distancing, but at no stage recommended mask mandates, vaccine mandates or lockdowns,” it added.
“We supported sovereign governments to make decisions they believed were in the best interests of their people, but the decisions were theirs.”
- Withdrawal ‘raises issues’ -
The row came as Washington struggled to dislodge itself from the WHO, a year after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to that effect.
The one-year withdrawal process reached completion on Thursday, but Kennedy and Rubio regretted in their statement that the UN health agency had “not approved our withdrawal and, in fact, claims that we owe it compensation.”
WHO has highlighted that when Washington joined the organization in 1948, it reserved the right to withdraw, as long as it gave one year’s notice and had met “its financial obligations to the organization in full for the current fiscal year.”
But Washington has not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, and is behind around $260 million.
“The notification of withdrawal raises issues,” WHO said Saturday, adding that the topic would be examined during WHO’s Executive Board meeting next month and by the annual World Health Assembly meeting in May.
“We hope the US will return to active participation in WHO in the future,” Tedros said Saturday.
“Meanwhile, WHO remains steadfastly committed to working with all countries in pursuit of its core mission and constitutional mandate: the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right for all people.”
