SAMSUNG HEIR FACES BRIBERY CHARGE AS SOUTH KOREAN SCANDAL DEEPENS

South Korean prosecutors have charged Lee Jaeyong, Samsung's DE facto boss, with bribery and embezzlement in connection with the country's sprawling political corruption scandal, leaving the company leader less as it attempts to recover from the fallout surrounding it's fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
  Yesterday's move is a severe blow to plans within South Korea's largest conglomerate to shift leadership to the third generation of the group's founding family. Mr Lee is the grandson of legendary founder Lee Byung-chul.
   The indictment of the 48 year old vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, along with four other executives, comes as the technology  to finance group attempted to draw ahead of the depending scandal by announcing a series of governance reforms, including dismantling it's corporate strategy office, which has come under scrutiny for its role in lobbying political figures.

   Prosecutors charged Mr Lee with bribing President Park Geun-hye and her confidante, Choi Soon-sil, with Won43bn ($38m) for political favors to smooth his succession and consolidate control over key group units.
  Mr Lee has previously admitted making political donations to Ms Choi's foundation but denied they were given in expectation of receiving anything in return. Samsung has claimed Mr Lee is a victim of scandal, having been forced by Ms Park to make the donations.