Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in South Korea is still undecided on whether to pursue arrest warrants for two senior executives at Samsung Group following its investigation into political corruption in the Far Eastern country, officials said on Tuesday. The statement from the prosecution office was a direct response to a previous report that the Korean authorities are looking to arrest two executives at Samsung as a part of their ongoing investigation into President Park’s associates who allegedly used their political power for personal gain. The two executives in question are the Samsung Group President Chang Choong-ki and the conglomerate’s Vice Chairman Choi Gee-sung. Both are still considered only witnesses and aren’t officially charged with any crime, the Korean special prosecution office told Reuters on Tuesday. Samsung’s representatives declined to comment on the matter.
Choi and Chang were previously questioned by the authorities who were trying to determine whether Samsung used bribes and power brokers close to President Park in an effort to get its controversial 2015 merger with Cheil Industries approved. The country’s pension fund National Pension Service (NPS) approved the merger last year as one of the largest shareholders of Cheil Industries, but that decision now came under scrutiny from the South Korean prosecutors. Both NPS and Samsung’s offices were repeatedly raided as a part of the investigation into Choi Soon-sil, a close associate of President Park who is alleged to have played a key role in Samsung’s acquisition of Cheil Industries.
While the investigation into political corruption in South Korea has been dragging out for months, President Park is seemingly already on her way out of the office after the country’s parliament voted for impeaching her last month. The South Korean Constitutional Court has yet to confirm or reverse this decision, but in overall, political tensions in the Far Eastern country have been extremely high over the last few months, and Samsung happens to be in the middle of the ordeal. In the meantime, Samsung Group’s publicly traded subsidiary Samsung Electronics is preparing to post positive Q4 2016 financials, and its stocks have been steadily increasing in value for almost a week now.