SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors indicted Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee on charges including manipulating stock prices and breach of trust in order to cement control of the group, a prosecution official said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors decided to indict 52-year-old Lee due to the gravity of manipulating the capital market over a controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates that helped him assume greater control of the group's crown jewel Samsung Electronics , despite an independent panel's recommendation in June not to indict him, the official said.
Lee is separately accused of giving horses to the daughter of a confidante of former president Park Geun-hye to win government support for the merger of the two affiliates.Shares of major Samsung firms were largely unchanged following the announcement. Samsung Electronics was up 0.6per cent and Samsung C&T had risen 3.2per cent versus the broader market's 1.1per cent rise.