Samsung heir’s trial starts March 9

Samsung Electronics vice chairman and heir to the conglomerate Lee Jae-yong has been behind bars for a couple of weeks now after he was arrested on multiple charges including bribery. Since he has been indicted a trial will now follow. The Seoul Central District Court has confirmed that it’s going to start the embezzlement and bribery trial on Thursday, March 9.

“We are preparing hard, thinking that the upcoming Samsung trial … could be the trial of the century that the entire world will be watching,” said special prosecutor Park Young-soo. Charges against Lee include giving bribes to companies and organizations run by President Park Geun-hye’s friend Choi Soon-sil in order to win the government’s backing for a merger between two Samsung affiliates.

It’s too soon to predict which way the trial is going to go but at least we know that it won’t be a long one. The legislation used to appoint the special prosecutor mandates that the trial should be finished in three months.