The investigation of the'Samsung merger and succession suspicion', which has continued for nearly two years, is concluded.
According to the legal profession, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office (Deputy Prosecutor Bok-Hyeon Lee) will announce the results of the investigation into the suspicion over the merger process of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries at 2 pm today (1st).
The investigation team is known to have set a policy of'unrestricted prosecution' against former and current Samsung executives, including Lee Jae-yong (52), Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics.
The prosecution suspects that the process of the 2015 merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries and subsequent changes in the accounting of Samsung Biologics was all carried out to ensure a stable succession of management rights for Vice Chairman Lee.
In this process, it is believed that illegal activities at the group level were mobilized, such as manipulating market prices through purchase of treasury stocks.
Samsung countered that there was no illegal activity such as price manipulation, and that Vice Chairman Lee did not report or order the stock price management.
Samsung Bio's allegations of accounting fraud are also said to have been processed in accordance with international accounting standards.
In November 2018, the prosecution began an investigation after receiving a complaint from the Securities and Futures Commission under the Financial Services Commission on charges of accounting fraud by Samsung Bio.
Since September of last year, the investigation has expanded due to suspicion over the succession of management rights, which is the'motive' of fraudulent accounting.
In this year, former and current senior Samsung executives such as Choi Ji-sung (69), former head of the Samsung Future Strategy Office (Vice-Chairman), Kim Jong-joong (64), former US War Office Strategy Team Leader (President), and Choi Chi-hoon (63), Chairman of the Samsung C&T Board of Directors, were surveyed. In May, Vice Chairman Lee, the peak of suspicion, was summoned as a suspect and investigated.
After being investigated twice by the prosecution, Vice-Chairman Lee requested a convocation of the Prosecutors' Investigation Review Committee, saying that he would like to hear outside judgment on the investigation.
The prosecution confronted him with'Kangsu' requesting an arrest warrant for Vice Chairman Lee and others, but the warrant was dismissed in the court.
The Investigation Deliberation Committee, which was held following, also put a brake on the investigation by halting the investigation and recommending non-prosecution against Lee.
Since then, the prosecution has called professors and experts in the fields of business administration and accounting for about two months to collect opinions on the investigation.
As a result of the dismissal of the warrant and the recommendation of the Investigation Deliberation Committee, we have been struggling with the subject and scope of the prosecution while listening to external opinions.
In the midst of the prosecution's greetings, Bok-Hyun Lee, the head of the investigation team, was transferred to the 3rd Detective Division Head of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office.
The investigation team is expected to focus on closing the case and maintaining the prosecution prior to the appointment of personnel.