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Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong leaves the Seoul Central District Court Seoul after attending a hearing on the prosecution's arrest warrant request against him on June 8. (Yonhap News)

After a panel of outside experts at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (SPO) came to the surprising conclusion on June 26 that the prosecutors should halt their investigation into Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and not file charges against him, the prosecutors huddled over the weekend to decide how to handle the case moving forward. After the team of investigators submits their collated opinions to the leadership of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, office director Lee Seong-yun and Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl are likely to make their final decision about whether to indict Lee.

There are two factors that may make the prosecutors hesitate about indicting Lee. For one, the prosecutors have accepted the panel’s recommendations in each of the eight cases it has reviewed since its creation in 2018; for another, the recommendation to halt the investigation and not indict Lee was supported by an overwhelming 10 members of the panel, with only three favoring indictment.

But given the complexity of an investigation whose record runs for 200,000 pages, there had always been criticism that Lee’s case wasn’t suitable for review by the panel. Furthermore, the judge that heard Lee’s pre-detention hearing recognized that the prosecutors had established the facts of the case to a certain extent. As such, it’s widely thought that the prosecutors will decide to push ahead with an indictment. The final decision is likely to be made during the discussion between Lee and Yoon.

In a statement released on June 28, the civic group Solidarity for Economic Reform (SER) expressed its deep regret and concern for the panel’s recommendation. “This is a case in which both the prosecutors, who are the experts in this investigation, and the warrant-issuing judge concluded that the question of criminality should be determined in court. Therefore, the review panel’s recommendation to halt the investigation and not indict Lee defies common sense, even if it is a majority decision. We must not undermine the prosecutors’ commitment to abiding by the law and principle.”

Economic Democracy 21 also released a statement on Sunday. “This has blocked a chance for Lee Jae-yong’s illegal behavior to be brought to light during the course of the trial. We urge the prosecutors to indict Lee without the slightest hesitation,” the group said.

By Kim Jeong-pil, staff reporter, and Koo Bon-kwon, senior staff writer

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