Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong due to attend court hearing over arrest warrant review

운명의 날 앞둔 삼성... "위기 극복 위한 경영 정상화 절실" 호소

Our top story this morning.
The high-profile legal showdown that sees the head of the country's largest conglomerate Samsung Electronics and South Korea's prosecution face off is about to get underway.
Let's connect straight to our Kim Bo-kyoung for more details.
Bo-kyoung, another tense day for one of South Korea's wealthiest men as he's due in court any minute.
Hi Semin,... the Seoul Central District Court will decide today whether the de facto head of Samsung Group, Lee Jae-yong, should be arrested over his alleged involvement in corporate fraud dating back to 2015.
Lee hasn't appeared yet as the court hearing is slated at 10:30 AM, Korea time.
As you would expect, crowds of reporters are waiting to see if Lee makes a statement or answers questions before he's ushered inside.
Lee will be joined by two Samsung executives, Choi Gee-sung and Kim Jong-joong who are from the group's now-deactivated control tower, the Future Strategy Office.
Bo-kyoung, lay out some of the charges leveled against Lee, and Samsung Group also gave out a statement just a day before the court's hearing?
Semin, the billionaire Samsung Group heir is facing two main charges,... the first over the controversial 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries.
Lee's accused of intentionally manipulating their stock prices lowering the value of Samsung C&T's shares and inflating those of Cheil Industries' to make sure the merger went through without a hitch.
He's also accused of inflating the value of the pharmaceutical company Samsung Biologics by committing accounting fraud,... both of the alleged moves are seen as his bid to further cement his power over the group and facilitate a clean succession from his ailing father, Lee Kun-hee.
Samsung Group is in shock right now,... as the prosecution's move came right after Lee requested an external committee to decide whether such an investigation was even required.
The group issued a statement on Sunday, rebutting some of the points prosecutors made,... and asked the court to "pave the way for the company which is South Korea's biggest to normalize its management structure" amid these unprecedented times with COVID-19 outbreak and the trade war between China and the U.S..
Back to you, Semin.

#Samsung #LeeJaeyong #court