As reported by Bloomberg, Samsung's Vice-Chairman Lee Jae-Yong is facing charges of bribery, with allegations that he helped make bribes for government favours, these summing up to tens of millions of US dollars.
These bribes were allegedly directed towards entities controlled by someone close to South Korea's President Park Geun-Hye, so that Jae-Yong could solidify his control of Samsung in a 2015 merger. According to South Korea's special prosecutor, the charges also include hiding assets overseas as well as embezzlement.
"Samsung was directly linked to the influence-peddling scandal and was essential to the special prosecutor's investigation," commented Lee Kyu-Chul, spokesperson for the special prosecutor. "The indictment describes in detail the private conversation between Jay Y. Lee and President Park Geun-hye."
Since then Samsung has announced that it would disband the Corporate Strategy Office, linked to the charges, and the special prosecutor has recommended that the case is resolved much sooner than the normal period of 18 months.