Prosecution to convene committee to discuss validity of probe into Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong

오늘 이재용 수사심의위... 전.현직 특수통 치열한 공방 예고The fate of the prosecution's probe into Samsung's de-facto leader Lee Jae-yong will be decided soon, as an external committee meeting to review the validity of the investigation will be held in the coming hours.Kim Hyo-sun reports.The South Korean prosecution is scheduled to hold an external committee meeting in the coming hours to determine the validity of its investigation into Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong.The core agenda item is to determine whether to push ahead with the prosecution's plan to indict Lee on managerial succession and stock manipulation.When the meeting begins at 10:30 a.m., Korea time, the participants will first discuss the issue of former Supreme Court Justice Yang Chang-soo's resignation as the head of this specific committee of experts.He decided to step down, saying he has maintained a friendship with one of Samsung's senior executives.The committee will review the 50-page written opinions from the two sides - Samsung Group and the prosecutors.This will be followed by a oral presentation by the two parties,... which pundits forecast to be a fierce battle.Lee, himself, will not attend.After hours of internal discussion,... committee members will then reach a decision.While in most cases, a final decision is made later in the day,... many forecast that the process may take longer this time as an immense amount of documents need to be reviewed considering the complexity of Lee's charges.This process of review by external experts was established after a citizen's panel, formed by the prosecution,... came to a decision earlier this month that the issue needed to be reassessed.While the final decision of the committee is not legally binding,... prosecutors have followed the recommendations of all eight previous committees that have been established since the introduction of the system.But the results remain unclear as the prosecution has great confidence they can prove Lee guilty over his alleged role in the controversial merger in 2015 between two Samsung affiliates - Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T - in order to gain greater control over the country's largest conglomerate.Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.