Prosecutors to Decide on Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's Indictment as Early as This Weekend

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol Likely to Replace Weekly Report with Written Submission for 4th Consecutive Week

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics is entering the courtroom to attend the warrant hearing held on the 8th of last month at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] As the prosecution, which has been investigating allegations surrounding the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, is expected to announce its final conclusion as early as this weekend, attention is focused on whether the Prosecution Investigation Deliberation Committee's recommendation to 'halt the investigation and not prosecute' will be accepted by the prosecution.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is expected to replace the weekly Wednesday briefing with a written report again this time. Accordingly, the report from Lee Sung-yoon, head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, who is responsible for the investigation of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, is also expected to be submitted in writing.

There had been expectations that the decision report on whether to indict Vice Chairman Lee would be conducted face-to-face, considering the gravity of the matter, rather than in writing. Therefore, it is possible to speculate that the Central District Prosecutors' investigation team had not yet decided on the indictment by the time of the weekly report on the 22nd.

However, a prosecution official said, "(Important case reports) are not necessarily made through the weekly briefing," adding, "It seems that the district prosecutor is reporting to the Prosecutor General frequently through other channels." Despite the written report on this day, this is interpreted as suggesting that the decision on indictment could be announced within this week as previously expected.

Within the prosecution, it is widely anticipated that last weekend, the district prosecutor urgently convened chief prosecutors under the first to third deputy prosecutors to hear opinions on whether to indict Vice Chairman Lee and others, and based on the contents of the chief prosecutors' meeting, a final decision will be made and then approved by Prosecutor General Yoon on this day.

The prosecution's hesitation to reach a conclusion is due to the fact that on the 26th of last month, the Investigation Deliberation Committee overwhelmingly recommended 'non-prosecution' by a vote of 10 to 3 not only for Vice Chairman Lee but also for former Samsung Future Strategy Office Strategy Team Leader Kim Jong-jung and Samsung C&T Corporation. In particular, the committee even recommended 'halting the investigation' for Vice Chairman Lee.

Given that the court previously dismissed the arrest warrant for Vice Chairman Lee and the Investigation Deliberation Committee recommended non-prosecution, it has become burdensome to proceed with an indictment. In fact, at the chief prosecutors' meeting held last weekend, deputy and chief prosecutors not directly involved in the investigation refrained from giving definitive opinions and took a wait-and-see attitude, and it is reported that no consensus was reached even within the investigation's command line.

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