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(LEAD) Samsung Group chief denies corruption allegations
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee denied corruption allegations Friday while appearing amid tight security for questioning at a special prosecutor's office for the first time.
"I didn't," the 66-year-old chief executive said in response to a reporter's question on whether he engaged in bribery.
"I haven't thought (Samsung) is a criminal group and I think the problem is with you, who have passed on such things (to the public)," he said, leaving the packed entrace hall for the elevator at special prosecutor Cho Joon-woong's office.
For Lee, the interrogation was the second of its kind since he took control of Samsung Group after the death of his father, the conglomerate's founder Lee Byung-chull, in 1987. He was first summoned in 1995 with a group of corporate leaders for bribing politicians a decade earlier.
His appearance suggested the high-profile probe was nearing its conclusion. At stake is whether Lee will be indicted.
"There are a great deal of things to ask. Today's inquiry will continue until 11 p.m. or even midnight," Yun Jung-sok, spokesman for the special prosecutor, told reporters.
Hours before Lee's appearance, the special prosecutor asked President Lee Myung-bak to extend his mandate for the second and final time, said Yun. The final deadline is April 23.
Over the past three months, investigators have been trying to verify allegations raised by a former Samsung lawyer. He claimed that the group stashed slush funds under borrowed-name accounts and that Lee directed lobbying of government officials, judges and prosecutors as well as played a role in the 1996 murky transfer of control of the group from him to his son, Jae-yong.
Lee's wife, Hong Ra-hee, was questioned for the first time on Wednesday over her alleged use of some Samsung slush funds, following interrogations of her son, Jae-yong, and her brother Hong Seok-hyun, a former ambassador to the United States, last month.
The independent probe kicked off in January after Kim Yong-chul, a former lawyer for Samsung, claimed that the group created slush funds worth 200 billion won (US$202 million) and routinely bribed public officials. The National Assembly promptly passed a bill for the probe.
Samsung has denied setting up any slush funds. But it later acknowledged having borrowed-name accounts.
Tension mounted ahead of Lee's appearance, as scores of members of civic groups surrounded the special prosecutor's office, located just several kilometers away from Lee's residence in central Seoul. Waving signs, some activists chanted "Arrest Lee Kun-hee!" while others denounced the investigation against the top executive. No clashes occurred.
South Koreans are torn between hopes that Samsung will enhance its transparency and concerns about damage to its global reputation. Samsung accounts for nearly a quarter of South Korea's exports and gross national product. Among its 59 affiliates are Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest memory chip maker, and Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's No. 2 shipbuilder.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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