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Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong facing South Korea arrest | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A court in South Korea has approved the arrest of Samsung's heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, accused of bribery and other charges. | |
The case is linked to a scandal that led to the impeachment of the country's President Park Geung-hye. | |
Samsung is accused of giving donations to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Ms Park, in exchange for government favours. | |
Mr Lee and the Samsung Group deny any wrongdoing. | |
The Samsung chief had already been questioned with several other company executives in January but a subsequent court ruling decided there was insufficient grounds for an arrest. | |
But on Friday - days after Mr Lee was summoned back to court for a hearing held behind closed doors - a court spokesman said in a statement: "It is acknowledged that it is necessary to arrest [Lee Jae-Yong] in light of a newly added criminal charge and new evidence." | |
The claims against Samsung revolve around a merger between the electronics giant's construction arm, Samsung C&T, and an affiliate firm, Cheil Industries. | |
The prosecution alleges that Samsung gave $3.1m (£2.5m) to a company co-owned by Park confidante Choi Soon-sil and her daughter, in return for political support for the deal. | |
The scandal led to President Park being impeached last December. | |
Lee Jae-yong, also known as Jay Y. Lee, first gave evidence in front of a parliamentary hearing in December last year. Since January he has been treated as an official suspect in the case. | |
At the parliamentary hearing, Samsung admitted giving a total of 20.4bn won (£16m; $17.46m) to the two foundations, but denied seeking favours in return. | |
And Mr Lee also confirmed the firm gave a horse and money to help the equestrian career of Ms Choi's daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, something he said he now regretted. | |
Mr Lee is currently vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics. But since his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack in 2014, he is considered de facto boss of the entire Samsung Group conglomerate. |