The scion of South Korea’s Samsung business empire, Lee Jae-yong, appeared in court Friday to face trial for bribery and other charges.
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Lee sat quietly and did not speak as South Korean prosecutors presented a slew of evidence they said showed why and how the 48-year-old used 43 billion won ($38 million) in corporate funds to bribe the country’s impeached president, Park Geun-hye, and a close confidante of hers, mainly in exchange for supporting a smooth leadership transition at Samsung.
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The prosecutors focused on Lee’s alleged motivation for seeking government help with a father-to-son leadership transition in the country’s largest business group.
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Samsung has denied any wrongdoing and Lee, who was arrested in February, has pleaded not guilty.
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Lee assumed de facto leadership of the conglomerate after his father Lee Kun-hee, who is Samsung Electronics’ chairman, fell sick in May 2014.
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Stakes in the trial are high for both sides, since it involves the princeling of South Korea’s richest family.
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Prosecutors blamed close ties between the government and big business for the scandal that toppled Park and has implicated dozens of other people at a number of chaebol, or big business conglomerates.
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Such relations may have aided South Korea’s rapid economic ascent but now are a source of growing public discontent and a key target of contenders in a May 9 snap presidential election.
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For Samsung, a conviction could hurt Lee’s stature as future leader of the company founded by his grandfather.
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The prosecutors said their evidence includes 39 handwritten notebooks where a former economic adviser of the impeached South Korean president scribbled down her orders. They argued that the huge sum of corporate money was used for Lee’s personal benefit — to secure a business merger and lobby regulators to help strengthen his control over Samsung.
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Lee is the biggest beneficiary who reaped enormous profits, said special prosecutor Yang…