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Samsung CEO Jailed in South Korea Corruption Probe

Jay Y. Lee, is the CEO of Samsung. His family is the wealthiest in South Korea. He has a net worth of $6.2 billion and ordinarily lives in a $4 million Seoul mansion. Yesterday he was arrested for "questioning" in a big corruption scandal in South Korea that already resulted in the impeachment of President, Park Geun-Hye. According to Reuters:

[He has been put in a ]71 square foot detention cell with a toilet in the corner behind a partition. He has no shower, only a wash-stand. Bed is a mattress on the floor.

....Meals will be served on plastic trays slid through a small square window in the cell door. Lee is required to wash his own tray. Inside the cell, he can watch TV between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., but only a single channel with recorded programs broadcast by the justice ministry.

Visits are limited to 30 minutes a day, through glass. (His lawyers may visit longer.) The reason for holding him in solitary was to keep him from discussing the case with other detainees. Prosecutors had 10 days to charge him, although they could have asked for an extension.

Last month a judge said there was no reason to detain him pending the investigation (before he was charged.) Prosecutors were very disappointed. They say they now have more evidence, and yesterday, a judge agreed, approving his arrest warrant.

The prison sounds awful (and not much different from those with special housing units in the U.S. holding high profile suspected criminals (like El Chapo).

He has not yet been charged with a crime. [More...]

According to Reuters:

Prosecutors have up to 10 days to indict Lee, Samsung's third-generation leader, although they can seek an extension. After indictment, a court would be required to make its first ruling within three months.

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  • Display: Sort:
    According to Bloomberg News, ... (none / 0) (#1)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Feb 17, 2017 at 06:46:29 PM EST
    ... Jay Y. Lee has been "formally arrested on allegations of bribery, perjury and embezzlement." Per Bloomberg:

    "Investigators are looking into whether the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co. was involved in providing as much as 43 billion won ($38 million) to benefit a close friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in exchange for government support of his management succession. Prosecutors allege that Lee, 48, funded Park's associates as he tried to consolidate control over the sprawling conglomerate founded by his grandfather."

    According to the courts, again per Bloomberg, Lee was remanded to custody because he is considered a flight risk.

    While I share your concern for the appalling prison conditions (nobody should be subjected to that), speaking as a longtime and former senior legislative staffer, I take a dim view of political corruption, which are socially corrosive practices that serve to undermine people's trust in their government. On this particular issue, I'm admittedly and very much a hardliner.

    Aloha.

    Aloha.