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S. Korean parliament to call in conglomerate heads at hearings for presidential scandal

Xinhua, November 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korea's rival political parties agreed Monday to call in the heads of major conglomerates in next month's parliamentary hearings for a scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairmen Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo will be summoned as witnesses together with chairmen of LG, SK, CJ, Hanwha, Hanjin and Lotte.

Choi Soon-sil, President Park's decades-long friend, was indicted on Sunday on pressuring 53 conglomerates into donating tens of millions of U.S. dollars to two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi.

Park was identified by prosecutors as a criminal accomplice to Choi in many of criminal acts, becoming the first sitting South Korean president to be investigated as a criminal suspect.

According to the prosecution office, the business heads made donations for fear of tax inquiries and other retaliations from the government.

Last year, President Park met separately one by one with the eight conglomerate chiefs after an open meeting with scores of business heads in the presidential office.

The ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition Minjoo Party and minor opposition People's Party agreed last week to launch a parliamentary investigation into the scandal separately from prosecutors.

Four parliamentary hearings are scheduled to be held between Dec. 5 and 14. Witnesses to be summoned for the hearings include Choi and her associates as well as former presidential secretaries. Endit