South Korean National Pension Service (NPS) chairman and CEO Moon Hyung-pyo was arrested under a court order yesterday in a widening probe to determine whether impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye took bribes from businesses including Samsung.
Moon admitted to pressuring the state-run fund to back a controversial merger of two Samsung units when he served as health minister from December 2013 to August 2015.
The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant for his arrest after reviewing evidence provided by a special prosecutor, Yonhap news agency said.
Moon was taken into emergency detention on Wednesday over allegations that he pressured the fund to vote in favor of the merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T last year.
The acquisition was seen as a crucial step to ensure a smooth father-to-son power transfer to Lee Jae-yong, scion of Samsung’s founding family.
Critics said it undervalued Samsung C&T stock, but NPS — the world’s third largest public pension fund and a major Samsung shareholder — backed the deal, allegedly incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for the pension service’s subscribers.
Investigators reportedly plan to question Lee next month to determine whether he told Samsung Electronics executives to funnel millions of dollars into dubious foundations and companies controlled by Park’s friend Choi Soon-Sil in return for the pension service’s backing.
Lee said at a parliamentary hearing this month that he was not aware of the money transfers.
The South Korean parliament voted to impeach Park on Dec. 9, accusing her of constitutional and criminal violations ranging from a failure to protect people’s lives to bribery and abuse of power.
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