The independent counsel investigating the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye summoned the CEO of a Samsung Group subsidiary Friday, with the probe zeroing in on whether Park indirectly took bribes from the nation’s largest conglomerate.

The investigation team grilled Lim Dai-ki, the CEO of Cheil Industries, to look into whether the advertising firm sponsored Park’s longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil in return for the president helping the merger of Samsung Group’s two affiliates. 

The investigation team also confirmed the existence of a blacklist of cultural figures deemed critical of the right-wing Park administration. It said it is looking into part of the documents to see whether Park and Choi are involved in drawing up the list, how it was written and whether it was used to exclude blacklisted figures from key posts in the Culture Ministry and state support.

Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun and ex-Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon are likely to be questioned in the coming days for their involvement in creating and managing the blacklist involving nearly 10,000 artists, film directors and painters. 

Cheil Industries CEO Lim is the second high-ranking official from Samsung to be called in for questioning. Late last month, the counsel team brought in Kim Jae-yeol, the president of Samsung Sports Business of Cheil Industries. More key Samsung officials, possibly including Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, are expected to be brought in for questioning soon.

Samsung Electronics donated about 1.6 billion won ($1.34 billion) through Cheil Industries’ sports body to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, which was set up and controlled by Choi’s niece Chang Si-ho. According to the probe, Choi, Chang and former Vice Culture Minister Kim Chong pressured the Samsung official Kim to sponsor the sports center. 

The special counsel team suspects Samsung of offering financial support to the sports center, K-Sports and Mir foundations Choi controlled and Choi’s equestrian daughter Chung Yoo-ra in return for favors.

It suspects that Park exerted influence over the state-run National Pension Service, a major Samsung shareholder, to vote in favor of the group’s plan to merge Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T. The deal was seen as a crucial step to ensure the smooth transfer of leadership from Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee to his son Lee Jae-yong. 

Moon Hyung-pyo, chief of NPS, admitted during the counsel team’s questioning that President Park was behind the merger deal. Moon was arrested over allegations that he pressured the NPS to approve the merger when he was the health and welfare minister in July 2015.

Samsung Group has been at the center of the corruption scandal. While funding and chairing the Korea Equestrian Federation, it allegedly signed a 22 billion won contract with the German-based paper company Core Sports, run by Choi and Chung, to support Chung’s dressage trainings. It also contributed 20.4 billion won to the foundations controlled by Choi, the biggest amount among conglomerates. 

Its Vice Chairman Lee said during a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal last month that the company felt pressured to make donations to the foundations, flatly denying seeking any favors in return.

The special counsel team signaled that the probe could expand to other conglomerates including SK, CJ and Lotte Group in connection with the bribery allegations involving President Park. CJ and SK are suspected of seeking favors such as the release of their jailed owners. 

The team said that it will file a complaint against officials from Ewha Womans University on Friday, including its former President Choi Kyung-hee, for making false testimonies during a parliamentary inquiry looking into the scandal in December. 

During the inquiry session, the officials denied being close to Choi and being involved in giving preferential treatment to Chung. But the investigation found that the Ewha president and Choi were closely involved in the matter.

Chung, a 19-year-old dressage player, is suspected of receiving special treatment in the education and sports circles due to her mother’s close ties to the president. An investigation into the irregularities led to the cancellation of her acceptance into Ewha Womans University and graduation from Chungdam High School. 

She is in detention in Denmark after being arrested there for overstaying her visa Sunday. She will remain in custody there until Jan. 30. Korean authorities are taking steps to extradite Chung to Korea. 

Later in the day, the counsel team said it also summoned Cha Eun-taek, a TV commercial director, for the first time for questioning to confirm additional charges, without specifying them. Cha is suspected of using his ties to Choi to peddle influence over the culture sector, meddle in personnel appointments and monopolize state-led lucrative projects for personal gain.
By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)