S. Korean prosecutors to decide whether to seek arrest warrant for Samsung heir

South Korean prosecutors independently investigating the scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye will decide over the weekend on whether to seek an arrest warrant for Samsung's heir.

Lee Kyu-chul, spokesman of the independent counsel team, told a press briefing on Friday that whether to detain Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will be determined on Saturday or Sunday.

Lee was summoned for questioning on Thursday morning and returned home early Friday after being quizzed for more than 22 hours over his alleged involvement in the presidential scandal.

Samsung is suspected of having provided financial assistance to President Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil and Choi's daughter in return for getting support from the national pension fund for the merger in July 2015 of two Samsung affiliates.

The merger to create a de-facto holding company was extremely crucial to the heir apparent to inherit the overall management control of the country's largest conglomerate from his ailing father Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

The younger Lee reportedly denied any quid-pro-quo in Samsung's financial assistance to Choi and her daughter, saying during the marathon interrogation that it was offered at the request of the president.

He also gave different testimonies to the independent counsel team from those given by key Samsung executives, who were grilled by prosecutors before Lee's summoning.

Lee is also suspected of giving a false testimony in the December parliamentary hearing on the scandal. He said at the time that he belatedly recognized the financial assistance to the impeached leader's friend.

If the independent counsel team seeks the arrest warrant, bribery and perjury charges would be filed against Lee. Endit