Ethics Newsline®

SEOUL
South Korea’s parliament last week voted to begin an independent inquiry into corruption allegations against manufacturing giant Samsung Group.

According to a report from South Korea’s Donga online Internet news agency, the probe comes on the heels of allegations by a former executive that the company bribed police and politicians to turn a blind eye to management irregularities, including a planned transfer of power from the chairman to his son.

Samsung repeatedly has denied all wrongdoing, according to a report from South Korea’s official news agency, Yonhap.

While a presidential veto could delay passage, the combined number of house seats of the three parties backing the bill total more than enough to override the veto, reports the Seoul-based newspaper Chosun Ilbo.

According to the English-language Korean newspaper Korea Times, president Roh Moo-hyun is considering a veto because he claims the bill authorizing the probe is too broad.

Other administration officials who disagree with the implementation of the probe contend that the allegations already have been dealt with in various probes and court cases.

The BBC reports that Samsung’s troubles are the latest in a series of ethics scandals rocking a nation that generally reveres big industry. Six Samsung executives pleaded guilty earlier this year in the United States to price-fixing. In February, notes the BBC, the chairman of Hyundai Motor Company was sentenced to three years in prison for embezzlement, and last year South Korean prosecutors raided the Seoul offices of Citigroup while probing the sale of a local bank.