Lee Jae-yong's Side "Regret Over Prosecution's Detention Warrant Request, Saddened by Undermining of Legitimate Rights" (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyewon, Lee Changhwan] The prosecution's request on the 4th for arrest warrants for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and three other Samsung Group officials drew expressions of regret from Samsung's legal team.

The legal team representing the three, including Vice Chairman Lee, issued a statement that day saying, "We cannot help but express strong regret."

The lawyers stated, "This investigation has been conducted with unprecedented intensity over a long period of 1 year and 8 months, involving more than 50 search and seizure operations and over 430 summons interviews of more than 110 people. Despite the management crisis, Vice Chairman Lee and Samsung Group have quietly accepted the prosecution's investigation and cooperated sincerely."

Regarding the previous day's application by Vice Chairman Lee's side to the prosecution for convening an Investigation Review Committee to assess the validity of the indictment from a third-party perspective, the legal team explained, "At a point when the investigation was virtually concluded, Vice Chairman Lee and others could not accept the criminal charges being formed by the prosecution and thus submitted a request to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Investigation Review Committee to review whether the investigation should continue and whether to indict, from the public's viewpoint."

The lawyers added, "While the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Citizen Committee's agenda review procedure had already begun, the sudden request for arrest warrants seems to undermine the legitimate right to seek expert review and objective judgment from the public's perspective, which is regrettable."

They further stated, "We cannot help but feel regret that if the Investigation Review Committee procedure, which is expected to be brief, had listened to the grievances of the parties involved and allowed sufficient deliberation by the committee members before making a decision, the public might have trusted the prosecution's decision more."

Vice Chairman Lee and some president-level executives submitted a request the previous day to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which is handling the investigation, asking for the convening of the Investigation Review Committee to review whether to indict or not. The Investigation Review Committee was introduced in 2018 as a system to review the investigation process and evaluate the legality of investigation results in cases that raise public suspicion or attract social attention. The committee mainly decides on whether to continue investigations, whether to indict or not, whether to request or re-request arrest warrants, and evaluates the appropriateness and legality of indicted or non-indicted cases.

Initially, the legal community expected that the prosecution would be unlikely to request arrest warrants or make indictment decisions on its own until the Investigation Review Committee discussions concluded. However, the prosecution requested arrest warrants faster than expected.

The Economic Crime Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office submitted the arrest warrant requests to the court that morning for Vice Chairman Lee, former Samsung Future Strategy Office Chief Choi Ji-sung (Vice Chairman), and former Future Strategy Office Strategy Team Leader Kim Jong-jung (President).

Vice Chairman Lee and others face charges of unfair trading and market manipulation under the Capital Markets Act and violations of the External Audit Act for Stock Companies, while former President Kim faces additional charges of perjury.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.