Lee Jae-yong, the only son of Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, walks into a special counsel's office in Seoul for questioning on Thursday morning.

The special counsel will also likely summon Lee senior for questioning next week. On Thursday morning, Lee Jae-yong arrived at the special counsel's office in Hannam-dong, Seoul, accompanied by Lee Wan-soo, a lawyer of the conglomerate's legal team. He headed for the interrogation room on the eighth floor after telling journalists, "I am well aware that you have a lot of concerns and expectations about me and Samsung. I'll answer the questions sincerely today."

Investigators asked Lee junior to find out if his father or Samsung's restructuring office was involved in the conglomerate's alleged underhand attempts to pass the group ownership to the son by transfer of convertible bonds in quasi Samsung holding company Everland to Lee junior at low prices.

It seems unlikely that Lee Jae-yong was directly involved in attempts to pass the group ownership to him. But it was inevitable for the special counsel to grill him given that he is the nominal beneficiary of various alleged schemes by the conglomerate. Observers say his appearance at the special counsel's office is significant in itself, given that he had never been investigated before although eight years have passed since the alleged transactions.

Lee Jae-yong is likely to be question again several times.

(englishnews@chosun.com )