Prosecutors on Wednesday raided Samsung´s headquarters in the Gangnam neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea, in an ongoing investigation against the country´s president Park Geun-Hye and her top advisers, regarding a corruption scandal in which she helped a longtime friend extort money from major corporations, including the nation´s largest business group.
The National Pension Service Also Got Raided Because Of The Corruption Scandal
In addition to this raid, it was reported that the National Pension Service -with about $460 millions in assets, and the biggest shareholder in many of the most important companies in South Korea- was also raided, since it may have been pressured into support a controversial Samsung merger last year, which strengthened the grip of vice chairman and "Crown Prince" Lee Jae Jong. Naturally, the fund´s approval has been considered as an important move that determined Jong´s stronger position in the company, which benefitted the Samsung´s Group controlling family more than the shareholders.
The South Korea President has been accused of being part of an extortion design with unofficial presidential aide Choi Soon-sil, which backed two sporting foundations that received a potentially worth of $69 million in donations made by more than 50 business that was allegedly pressured to do it. Apparently, these sporting foundations were set up after the Samsung merger and were used for personal financial gain, and in exchange for some deals that hasn´t been revealed yet.
A Huge Damage To Samsung´s Reputation
Although Samsung has once again gain a good attention for the announce of its new products, it was reported that its involvement in this scandal could represent a huge blow for the company, considering that it suffered some months ago the cancelation of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 after several reports of the premium smartphone overheating, which causes losses of more than $5 billion. Naturally, this event was one of the worst moments in Samsung´s history, to the point in which even South Korea´s economy were seriously affected.
