The special counsel said his team had uncovered two things. One was that Lee authorized and instructed the amusement park and quasi Samsung holding company Everland to issue convertible bonds, and for IT service unit Samsung SDS to issue bonds with warrant at giveaway prices to the chairman's son Lee Jae-yong. Lee took over management control through a string of affiliates in a circular ownership structure. The special counsel team overturned an investigation into Everland by state prosecutors, who had indicted only two former and incumbent Samsung executives and found no misconduct involving Samsung SDS. The other was the discovery that Samsung opened 1,199 bank accounts using borrowed names to manage W4.537 trillion (US$1=W992) worth of assets, including W4.1 trillion in securities, W293 billion in deposits and W97.8 billion in bonds. This was the discovery of the largest amount of bank accounts created under borrowed names since the real-name financial transaction system took effect.

But the special counsel team failed to shed light on how the money contained in the borrowed-name accounts had been amassed. Investigators were unable to prove suspicions that Samsung amassed the slush fund through accounting fraud and other measures; they concluded it was not in the nature of a slush fund since prosecutors were unable to trace the flow of money before 2003 due to the expiry of the mandatory five-year period in which copies of notes and checks must be kept. The special counsel said his team was unable to detect any large influx of money into the accounts after 2003.

In the end, the special counsel team accepted Samsung’s claim that the funds in the accounts were the inheritance chairman Lee received from his father and the conglomerate’s founder Lee Byung-chul. Instead of pursuing the investigation until the end by tracing bank accounts and other methods, the special counsel team listened to Samsung’s claims and gave up. The team did not bother to question why such a “legitimate” inheritance had to be managed secretly in borrowed-name accounts and how that money could have grown to the tune of around W4.5 trillion. As a result, there can be no more questions asked about the purchase of expensive pieces of art which Samsung claims to have made using Lee’s own money and not by diverting company funds.

Regarding allegations that Samsung regularly bribed public officials, the special counsel team earlier said there were suspicions that Samsung operated an organized system of lobbying public officials -- the so-called Samsung scholarship. But the team halted the investigations of those allegations, saying concerned officials vehemently denied the charges and raids and tracing of bank accounts revealed no evidence of bribery, while the whistleblower Kim Yong-chul, a former chief attorney for the group, constantly changed his testimony, plus the statute of limitations had expired.

If the concerned people had confessed and Samsung had kept financial records of the money it used to bribe officials, there would have been no need to spend taxpayers’ money to appoint a special counsel. The special counsel team gave little credit to the testimony of the former lawyer who said he personally delivered the bribes. And he did not even bother to summon former and incumbent prosecutors who allegedly took the bribes for questioning. How can the public accept the findings of such an investigation?

The special counsel team wrapped up the investigation by indicting chairman Lee and other officials without arrest. It has destroyed all leads prosecutors could use to conduct additional investigations.

Samsung, which plays a huge role in our economy, has been experiencing difficulties in its management, and this has had a negative impact on Korea’s economy. That is why there were calls for an early end to the inquiry.

But does that mean the public will nod along if the special counsel team proposes an end to the Samsung controversy by presenting these findings? Many Koreans must feel as if they have just watched a farce entitled, “Inept Special Counsel, Able Samsung.”