The vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, Lee Jae-yong, has been summoned for questioning as a suspect on bribery charges in an influence-peddling scandal in South Korea, Yonhap has reported.
The scandal led to the country's parliament voting to impeach President Park Geun-hye on 8 December 2016. The Constitutional Court must decide whether to uphold the motion, a process that could take up to 180 days.
On Monday, two other senior officials of the Samsung Group, Choi Gee-sung, a vice chairman, and Chang Choong-ki, a president, were questioned in connection with the same scandal.
According to Yonhap, the Samsung Group, South Korea's largest business conglomerate, is alleged to have signed a 22 billion won (US$18.3 million) contract with a Germany-based company owned by Choi and her daughter under a consulting arrangement to pay for the daughter's equestrian training.
{loadposition sam08}South Korean investigators are examining whether this contract was signed as a quid pro quo for the state-run pension fund's backing a major 2015 merger deal between Samsung subsidiaries.
Allegations have been made that the presidential office put pressure on the state fund to back the merger in return for the alleged favours that Samsung granted Choi.
According to Yonhap, when the special counsel spokesman was asked whether they could seek a warrant to arrest Lee, he responded, "All possibilities are open."
The investigators have seized a tablet that was allegedly used by Choi and say that it contains information relevant to the Samsung funding of her company.
Yonhap said that though the Samsung Group had not officially responded to an invitation to comment on the situation, company officials said anonymously that if Lee was arrested, then it would affect key business decisions at Samsung.
Last year was a bad one for Samsung as it had to stop production of its Galaxy Note7 after the device began exploding a month after launch. It also had to recall some three million washing machines due to defects.