SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – Samsung lawyers denied on Thursday all charges brought against Lee Jae-yong, the billionaire heir to Samsung, in a massive corruption scandal that has ensnared the country’s president.
Lee’s lawyers told a court that prosecutors are unfairly trying to create an impression Lee is guilty by mentioning a past conviction of his father and by depicting Lee as having absolute control over a strategy office that allegedly engaged in bribery.
The 48-year-old Samsung Electronics vice chairman was arrested and indicted last month on bribery, embezzlement and three other charges that could entail at least five years in prison if he’s proven guilty.
Four other Samsung executives also have been charged. They were not at Thursday’s preliminary hearing.
Judge Lee Young-hun accepted an objection by prosecutors when Lee’s lawyers tried to display a PowerPoint presentation laying out “the fundamental problem” in the prosecution’s case.