Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Leader, Is Indicted on Bribery Charges -<br />SEOUL, South Korea — The head of Samsung, one of the world’s largest conglomerates, was indicted on bribery<br />and embezzlement charges on Tuesday, becoming one of the most prominent business tycoons ever to face trial in South Korea.<br />Ms. Park was identified as a criminal accomplice in November, when state prosecutors indicted Ms. Choi on charges of extorting tens of millions of dollars from Samsung<br />and other chaebol by leveraging her connections with the president.<br />Four other senior executives of Samsung were also indicted Tuesday,<br />but not arrested, on the same corruption charges as Mr. Lee, and three of the four resigned.<br />Mr. Lee was also accused of committing perjury when he insisted during a parliamentary hearing that he had never bribed Ms. Choi or Ms. Park.<br />In return, the prosecutor said in his indictment, Mr. Lee received political favors, most notably government support for a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015<br />that helped him inherit corporate control from his incapacitated father, Lee Kun-hee.<br />Mr. Lee was arrested on Feb. 17, a dramatic development in South Korea’s struggle to end collusive ties between the government<br />and family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebol, that dominate the economy.<br />Mr. Lee was accused of giving or promising $38 million in bribes to Choi Soon-sil, a secretive confidante of Ms. Park.<br />Samsung has said it will try to clear Mr. Lee’s name at trial.
