SAMSUNG LIFE EXECUTIVES LIKELY TO AVOID EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES

Reports on the continuing trial involving the leading executives of Korean life insurer Samsung Life have indicated that charges of embezzlement and fraud are likely to be avoided with a charge of tax evasion for the group’s chairman the most likely income. The investigation has centred on a number of irregular deals involving shares in Samsung’s many affiliates. However the accusation that these irregularities existed in order to create a series of slush funds has been difficult for prosecutors to prove with Samsung executives insisting that the 3.2 million shares in Samsung Life currently registered to 11 Samsung executives and the 700 managed accounts worth 2 trillion won are all, in fact, owned by the chairman Lee Kun-hee and were bequeathed to his father Lee Byung-chul by the late Samsung founder. Investigators for the prosecution have so far been unable to trace the source of these accounts, some of which were opened more than 10 years ago. The fact that some of these accounts and shares are registered to other executives has allowed Mr Kun-hee to avoid paying any inheritance tax on the 3 trillion won contained within the shares and accounts. Consequently, reports the Korea Times, prosecutors are likely to settle for charging the chairman, along with some family members and executives with tax evasion rather than embezzlement or breach of trust. The trial continues.