Head of Samsung Group, Jay Lee, faces a long day in court as a judge would on Wednesday decide whether he should be arrested for alleged bribery or not.
Lee has been in a corruption scandal that has engulfed President Park Geun-hye’s administration.
Investigators questioned Lee for 22 hours last week as a suspect in the scandal which led to the parliament impeaching Park in December, 2016 and throwing the country into crisis.
Park, 64, remains in office but has been stripped of her powers while the Constitutional Court decides whether to make her the country’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.
She is likely to undergo “face-to-face” questioning by early next month, the special prosecutor’s spokesman said.
The prosecutor’s office has accused Lee, 48, of paying bribes totalling 30.3 million pounds to organisations linked to Choi Soon-sil.
Soon-ill is a friend of the president who is at the centre of the scandal, to secure the 2015 merger of two affiliates and cement his control of the family business.
Lee, who has denied wrongdoing, is also accused of embezzlement and perjury.
Lee’s lawyer could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Seoul Central District Court will hold the hearing to decide on his arrest warrant. A court official told Reuters that Lee and his lawyer would attend the hearing.
A spokesman for the special prosecutor’s team said Lee would then be held in detention until the court had made its ruling. (Reuters/NAN)
OYE/OPI