Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong receives interviews before questioning in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 12, 2017. (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho)
Samsung's heir apparent returned to his office early Friday after being summoned the previous day for questioning by an independent counsel team investigating a scandal involving President Park Geun-hye.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong had been grilled for over 22 hours from Thursday morning over his alleged involvement in the presidential scandal.
Lee came out of the independent counsel's office at about 7:50 a.m. after going inside it at 9:30 a.m. local time the previous day, local TV footage showed.
Instead of returning home, Lee went to his office in southern Seoul, 3-4 km away from the prosecutor office, to hold a meeting with key executives of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate, according to local media reports.
Samsung is suspected of providing financial assistance to President Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil and Choi's daughter in return for getting support from the nation's pension fund for the merger in July 2015 of two Samsung affiliates.
President Park and Vice Chairman Lee met face-to-face around the time of the merger, which is extremely crucial to the heir apparent to inherit the group's management control from his ailing father Chairman Lee Kun-hee.
Lee reportedly denied any quid-pro-quo, telling prosecutors that the finance assistance was forcibly offered under the pressure of the impeached president.
