Samsung chairman named as suspect in $7.5 million tax evasion case
Reuters
February 8, 2018 05:07 MYT
February 8, 2018 05:07 MYT
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-Hee arrives at Gimpo airport in Seoul after he visited several European countries and Japan, May 24, 2012. - REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won/File Photo
Barely days after his son's jail release this week, the Samsung Chairman finds himself facing fresh allegations of white-collar crime.
South Korean police on Thursday (February 8) named Lee Kun-hee, seen here in 2012, as a suspect in a 7.5 million dollar tax evasion case involving the use employee bank accounts.
But the elder Lee is in the hospital and could not be questioned due to his physical condition.
The chairman has been there since 2014 after suffering a heart attack, after which his son was regarded as the de facto head of the group.
Police said the bank accounts, holding over 350 million dollars, were found during a look into whether the elder Lee had misappropriated company funds to renovate the Lee family home.
These aren't his first criminal allegations, either.
In 2009, the elder Lee was convicted on a separate charge of tax evasion, and later pardoned by former President Lee Myung-bak.
Current leader Moon Jae-in has vowed to put the the country's family-run conglomerates under stronger scrutiny.
He's also promised to end presidential pardons of corporate leaders.
World No. 1 chipmaker Samsung Electronics has so far weathered the storm of scandals.
The company earned record profits while the younger Lee spent a year in jail.