Arrest warrant sought for Samsung heir-apparent over scandal
Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was questioned by an independent counsel team for 22 hours as a bribery suspect last week.
Samsung is alleged to have given undue financial support to Choi in return for business favors.
The questioning of Lee focused on allegations that Samsung struck a 22 billion won (about $18.3 million) contract with a Germany-based company owned by Choi and her daughter under the guise of a consulting arrangement to fund the daughter's equestrian training.
The special counsel team has launched a widening investigation into the scandal involving Park, Choi and South Korea's business conglomerates, which led to the impeachment of the president by parliament in December.
Investigators are looking into suspicions that Park pressured the state-run National Pension Service to support a controversial merger of the Samsung group's two units in 2015 in return for Samsung's financial support for Choi.
The merger has been believed to have been designed to facilitate ownership transfer in Samsung by solidifying Lee's influence in the company's management as heir-apparent.
Also Monday, Moon Hyung Pyo, chief of the National Pension Service, was indicted on charges including abuse of power.
He is suspected of pressuring the state fund to back the merger on behalf of the presidential office when he was health minister in 2015, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Park, whose five-year single term ends in February 2018, fell into disgrace after being impeached by parliament, following massive street protests across the nation.
The Constitutional Court has begun deliberating on the impeachment.
The influence-peddling scandal revolves around Choi, who was indicted on charges of meddling in key state affairs and using her ties with Park for financial gain.
Park was also labeled by state prosecutors as a co-conspirator in various criminal charges brought against Choi and two of Park's former secretaries, becoming the first president in South Korean history to face a criminal investigation as a primary suspect.
