A liberal priest group rejected a summons Wednesday from an independent counsel investigating Samsung Group's alleged creation of slush funds and bribery.Four priests from the Catholic Priests Association for Justice turned down the request on the grounds that the investigation had been conducted in an unfair manner.
The priest group first disclosed the irregularities along with Kim Yong-chul, a former lawyer for the conglomerate, last year, which led to the launch of the special investigation team.
``It's really doubtful whether the special counsel is investigating Samsung properly,'' one of the priests said during a news conference.
They said that the investigation team has taken a lukewarm approach to key figures in the conglomerate and also called for actions to probe prosecutors who allegedly received bribes from Samsung.
``They've got only 10 days before the deadline for the first investigation term. If they maintain a lukewarm stance in the investigation, they should just hand over the probe to another independent body for better results.''
The association disclosed inside reports and other evidence to prove the allegations that Samsung has been involved in many irregularities, such as bribery and slush fund creation.
They obtained them from Kim, who served as the director of a legal department attached to the secretariat of the group's chairman.
The counsel also summoned a former executive of the conglomerate for the investigation into the allegation that Samsung created bank accounts under its employees' names without their approval.
Meanwhile, the team has been tracking down the checks that the conglomerate chairman's wife, Hong Ra-hee, handed to Hong Song-won, head of Seomi Gallery, for the investigation into the allegation that the conglomerate bought expensive artworks with part of the group's slush funds.
The group chairman's wife has been banned from leaving the country in connection with the probe at the request of the special prosecutor.
But the team has not yet confirmed whether or when they will summon her for the investigation. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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