back to article Samsung heir remains free as judge rules putting him inside would be detention without trial

A South Korean court has rejected prosecutors' request to arrest Samsung's de facto leader, Lee Jae-yong, in a case surrounding an alleged $3.9bn accounting fraud. A Seoul District Court judge ruled against the warrant for Lee this morning, noting that despite hefty evidence it could not find a valid reason to detain Lee. " …

  1. lglethal Silver badge
    Go

    OK this is the second article I've read on this, and i still havent quite understood this. Maybe someone with more of an understanding of the korean justice system can explain it.

    It seems that the police have collected evidence of a potential crime, but they havent charged Lee yet. But they still wanted to put him in pre-trial detention? Unless there's a concern that he could do things like destroy further evidence, witness tampering, etc. I would have thought pre-trial detention was unlikely to be granted in any case. And if they have so much evidence, then why havent they charged him yet?

    Maybe there is something specifically Korean i havent understood from the articles?

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "the court's decision to reject is a shame"

    The court's decision is based on law. I understand that the prosecution is disappointed, but if the prosecution is so sure of itself, it should have made the arrest and booked the guy on charges.

    The fact that this hasn't happened means to me that the judge made the right call.

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