Hong Rae-hee summoned
Hong Rae-hee, the queen of the Samsung dynasty, was summoned today by the special probe team to answer whether she was involved in the purchase of expensive paintings with the slush funds.
Her appearance was the second by the Lee family since Lee Jay-yong, the heir-apparent of the Samsung kingdom who is suspected to have bought shares of Samsung Everland at a far below market price in order to take management control, appeared before the investigation team on February 28.
The team has issued an overseas travel ban on her on February 18, and been since considering the right timing for the summon.
A scores of people involved in the case have been called into the prosecutor’s office for questioning, but many suspect that the company is highly likely to get away with its alleged wrongdoings. In fact, the junior Lee was acquitted of the charges that Samsung affiliates lost tens of billions of wons by buying back his shares in several Samsung internet enterprises, where he was the biggest shareholder, at a firesale price.
That the newly-elect president was a chaebol-man himself and vowed to make Korea a more business-friendly, or 'chaebol-friendly' as pointed by some, country is not of any help for people to believe that he is serious about getting chaebols to clean up their acts. His recent around-the-clock hot-line with the business people clearly shows how far he is willing to go to get things easier for the nation’s big companies. He seems to believe that his promise to reengineer the Korean economy can be materialized when chaebols can exert unfettered influence and are not bothered by ‘law and order’ as they have always been.
It remains to be seen whether the counsel can fulfill its ‘special investigation’ purposes to live up to the expectations of most Koreans who believe now is the time to right the decade-old problems related to illegal transfer of management control.
People are no longer to buy the claim that Samsung can’t sustain without the family. After all, the Lee family holds only 4.5 per cent of Samsung Group and the rest is owned by shareholders.
Her appearance was the second by the Lee family since Lee Jay-yong, the heir-apparent of the Samsung kingdom who is suspected to have bought shares of Samsung Everland at a far below market price in order to take management control, appeared before the investigation team on February 28.
The team has issued an overseas travel ban on her on February 18, and been since considering the right timing for the summon.
A scores of people involved in the case have been called into the prosecutor’s office for questioning, but many suspect that the company is highly likely to get away with its alleged wrongdoings. In fact, the junior Lee was acquitted of the charges that Samsung affiliates lost tens of billions of wons by buying back his shares in several Samsung internet enterprises, where he was the biggest shareholder, at a firesale price.
That the newly-elect president was a chaebol-man himself and vowed to make Korea a more business-friendly, or 'chaebol-friendly' as pointed by some, country is not of any help for people to believe that he is serious about getting chaebols to clean up their acts. His recent around-the-clock hot-line with the business people clearly shows how far he is willing to go to get things easier for the nation’s big companies. He seems to believe that his promise to reengineer the Korean economy can be materialized when chaebols can exert unfettered influence and are not bothered by ‘law and order’ as they have always been.
It remains to be seen whether the counsel can fulfill its ‘special investigation’ purposes to live up to the expectations of most Koreans who believe now is the time to right the decade-old problems related to illegal transfer of management control.
People are no longer to buy the claim that Samsung can’t sustain without the family. After all, the Lee family holds only 4.5 per cent of Samsung Group and the rest is owned by shareholders.
posted by Ellie JY @ 4:57 PM
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