SAMSUNG GROUP’S STANCE ON RECENT INDICTMENT

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Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong's lawyers have criticized the prosecution’s decision to indict their client. They argue there is nothing new to the charges brought forward and vowed to prove that the prosecution's claims are unwarranted in the upcoming trial.

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Violation of capital market and external audit laws as well as breach of trust. Lee Jae-yong's lawyers said these charges are the prosecution's one-sided argument. They say there is nothing new the prosecution has presented and the claims have already been reviewed during an arrest warrant deliberation and an independent committee review. The legal team said investigators did not look for the truth based on evidence, but had the goal of indicting Lee from the beginning. They said results of the committee's review and arrest warrant hearing prove that fact. Lee's legal team also lashed out at the new charge of breach of trust, saying it came out of nowhere. They argued the 2015 merger rather benefited Samsung C&T rather than harm it because it came to own the shares of Samsung Biologics. The lawyers said they will faithfully make their case in the upcoming trial to prove the prosecution's claims are unwarranted. Meanwhile social and civic groups have welcomed the prosecution's decision to indict the Samsung heir, and called for a stern court ruling. The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy said the decision was only natural and the revelation of Lee's illegal conduct should serve to establish economic justice. The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice also said the trial must hold him accountable for the charges he is facing to demonstrate that everyone is equal before the law.