Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 The trial of Samsung's de facto head Lee Jae-Yong on a string of corruption charges including bribery and embezzlement has begun in South Korea. 
 
 Mr Lee was not present at the preliminary hearing, but his lawyer denied all charges on his behalf. 
 
 The case is linked to a massive scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's President Park Geun-hye. 
 
 Four other Samsung executives who are also facing trial have also denied wrongdoing. 
 
 The trial is expected to go on for several months. 
 
 The case against Lee 
 
 Mr Lee, also known as Jay Y Lee, is currently vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics. But since his father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack in 2014, he is considered de facto boss of the entire Samsung Group conglomerate. 
 
 He is accused of giving donations worth 41bn won ($36m;£29m) non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Ms Park. 
 
 Prosecutors have alleged this was done to win government support for a big restructuring of Samsung that would help a smooth leadership transition in favour of Mr Lee. 
 
 In a December parliamentary hearing, Samsung admitted giving a total of 20.4bn won to two foundations, but denied seeking favours in return. 
 
 Mr Lee also confirmed the firm gave a horse and money to help the equestrian career of Ms Choi's daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, something he said he now regrets. 
 
 Lee Jae-yong Samsung's heir apparent - Grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, son of current chairman Lee Kun-hee. 
 
 - Also known as Jay Y Lee, the 48-year-old has spent his entire career in the company. 
 
 - Is vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and was nominated to join the firm's board in October 2016. 
 
 - Despite his arrest, still widely expected to take overall control of Samsung. 
 
 - Critics say his rise through Samsung has been due to his birth, not his business experience. Getty Images 
 
 Ms Park's position began to unravel in October last year when details of her friendship with Ms Choi emerged. 
 
 They included revelations that the president had allowed her old friend - who holds no government role - to edit political speeches. 
 
 Politicians voted in December last year to impeach her over the scandal. South Korea's constitutional court is expected to rule shortly on whether that decision will be upheld. 
 
 Until then, Ms Park remains formally president but stripped of her powers. 
 
 Ms Choi is on trial for charges including corruption and coercion. 
 
 Ms Park denies wrongdoing but has apologised for the way she managed her relationship with Ms Choi, who also denies committing criminal offences. ||||| Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong denied bribery and other criminal charges filed by special prosecutors in the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye at his first court hearing in Seoul on Thursday. 
 
 
 
 The vice chairman of Samsung Electronics claimed innocence through his lawyers at the hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court. 
 
 
 
 Lee didn't show up at the hearing, as the inaugural session mostly dealt with trial proceedings and other procedural issues. 
 
 
 
 Lee was indicted on Feb. 28 on a string of charges, including bribery and embezzlement. He has been in custody since last month. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong (Yonhap) 
 
 The special probe team suspects that Lee gave or promised 43.3 billion won ($38.3 million) in kickbacks to Park's friend Choi Soon-sil in return for the government's backing of a merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015.The business merger was seen as critical to the smooth management succession of the group from ailing Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee to his only son Jae-yong.Special prosecutors viewed Samsung's donation of 20.4 billion won in 2015 to two sports and culture foundations controlled by Choi as bribes.Lee has consistently insisted that Samsung's donations to Mir and K Sport foundations were made customarily in compliance with government requests, while its financial support for Choi and her family was forced by the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.His lawyers repeated the same claims of innocence throughout the opening hearing.The lawyers said Lee's instructions to group executives following his one-on-one meetings in 2015 and 2016 with President Park remained unclear. They urged special prosecutors from resorting to presumptions in handling Lee's case.Lee's lawyers also raised questions over the participation of former prosecutor members of the special counsel team in the court hearing, saying the tenure of the special prosecutors already expired at the end of last month.The first hearing was finished after one hour amid fierce confrontation between lawyers and prosecutors.The Seoul district court is expected to give its ruling in late May. (Yonhap) ||||| The trial of Samsung Electronics Co. vice chairman Jay Y. Lee began Thursday, as prosecutors try to prove the billionaire conspired to funnel millions of dollars to a confidante of President Park Geun-hye to help secure control of the world’s largest smartphone maker. 
 
 Lee is the highest-profile business figure indicted in a sprawling corruption investigation that’s also led to Park’s impeachment and spurred outrage over “chronic corruption” in ties between government and family-run conglomerates. Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo has called the legal contest surrounding Lee South Korea’s “trial of the century,” given his global profile and the amounts of money involved. 
 
 South Korea’s Family-Run Conglomerates 
 
 Hearings at Seoul’s Central District Court are set to last up to three months, during which Lee will fight charges from bribery to embezzlement. The biggest point of contention will be whether Samsung’s donations to entities led by Park’s friend, Choi Soon-sil, were intended to win government backing for a controversial 2015 merger that made it easier for Lee to control the Samsung Group chaebol. The 48-year-old executive has denied wrongdoing. 
 
 “Proving there was an exchange of money for favors is going to be challenging,” said Hong Jung-seok, a lawyer who worked for the special prosecution until the end of last month. “The trial will draw attention from around the world, not just for the defendant’s fame abroad, but also for the size of the alleged bribe.” 
 
 The preliminary hearing Thursday lasted about an hour with Lee’s lawyers and prosecutors appearing before presiding judge Lee Yeong-hun. It’s clear every step will be contentious. Lee’s lawyers tried to show a PowerPoint presentation, but prosecutors objected the hearing was supposed to cover only the basics of the trial and the 47-year-old judge agreed. 
 
 Defense lawyers then disputed the legitimacy of their opponents because the special prosecutor was helped during the hearing by regular state prosecutors. An elderly woman interrupted proceedings twice and then was physically removed by guards as she screamed. 
 
 What’s Behind the Samsung Bribery Allegations: QuickTake Q&A 
 
 These are strange days in Seoul with some of the country’s most powerful figures under scrutiny several miles apart. A constitutional court will decide at 11 a.m. Friday whether to uphold Park’s impeachment and remove her from office, a ruling almost certain to provoke protests whatever the outcome. The scandal has already engulfed the streets of Korea’s capital for months, as protests spring up regularly under the watch of police in riot gear. 
 
 In trying to prove the case against Lee, prosecutors will probe the complex web of ties through which the chaebol that control Korea’s economy allegedly trade money for political favors. Park’s investigation has already led to about 30 indictments and ensnared establishment figures from the president of a prestigious university to the head of the country’s horseback-riding association, who’ve been accused of easing Choi’s daughter’s college admission and equestrian lessons. 
 
 Lee now faces five years to life in prison if convicted. Under South Korea’s three-tier judiciary system, Lee can turn to an appellate court and then the Supreme Court if he loses, with each court taking up to two months to deliberate. His own father avoided jail time despite two previous criminal convictions, thanks to government pardons. 
 
 Lee’s predicament casts uncertainty over the succession at Samsung, which has been in transition since his father suffered a crippling heart attack in 2014. The prolonged absence of its de-facto head may delay major decisions at Samsung Electronics, which is set to unveil the latest version of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, this month. Still, Samsung has said it has a strong management team in place to run the business, and the company’s shares have risen 11.5 percent this year, more than three times the gain in the benchmark KOSPI index. 
 
 Detained outside Seoul since February, Lee must win the trial to resume guiding a $240 billion corporation trying to bounce back from last year’s botched debut of the Note 7, which showed a tendency to burst into flame. 
 
 Lee was indicted last month along with four other Samsung executives, but was the only one to have been detained. The prosecutor accuses him of conspiring to transfer 29.8 billion won ($26 million) to Choi’s organizations in return for favors. Those allegedly included currying support from the government-backed National Pension Service for a 2015 merger of Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp. That deal -- which cemented Lee’s control -- was narrowly approved over the opposition of activist investor Paul Elliott Singer. 
 
 Other charges against Lee include hiding assets overseas, perjury and hiding criminal profits. Samsung said Monday it disagrees with Park’s findings. “Samsung has not paid bribes nor made improper requests seeking favors. Future court proceedings will reveal the truth,” it said in a statement. 
 
 The special prosecution’s investigation moved much faster than it would have in jurisdictions such as the U.S.: even initial investigations into then-President Bill Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky took the better part of a year. Park had sought, but failed to get, a one-month extension to a 90-day investigation deadline he was given. Wrapping up his investigation, the prosecutor on Monday partly blamed the timeframe for rendering his probe “half complete.” 
 
 Lee was absent from Thursday’s hearing, which is designed to hammer out procedures that govern the trial. He’s hired Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, one of the country’s biggest law firms, for his defense, after having been represented during the investigation by a former judge who specialized in criminal cases and tax lawsuits. Lee’s lawyers declined to speak to reporters after the hearing. 
 
 Exclusive insights on technology around the world. Get Fully Charged, from Bloomberg Technology. 
 
 If South Korea’s constitutional court approves the president’s impeachment, Park will lose her immunity and an election will follow within two months. The president has so far refused to be questioned by prosecutors over suspicions that she asked Lee to support Choi financially. She’s even barred investigators from entering the Blue House, the palatial Korean seat of power. A lawyer for Park on Monday reiterated her denial of the allegations. 
 
 Read more: A Guide to the Major Legal Cases in Korea’s Presidential Scandal 
 
 While a typical trial could take up to 18 months, Lee’s will be fast-tracked under a special prosecution law. Regardless of the final verdict, the public hearings risk tarnishing Samsung’s brand just as it begins to put the Note 7 debacle behind it. 
 
 “It’s an international embarrassment,” Eric Schiffer, chairman of Irvine-based Reputation Management Consultants, said by email. “But it’s not going to be reputation carnage for Samsung. Nor will it materially affect sales because Samsung is bigger than Lee.”
– The "trial of the century" has begun in South Korea, where a vice chairman at Samsung Electronics faces bribery and embezzlement charges after allegedly giving $36 million to President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Choi Soon-sil in order to win government support for a 2015 merger. Lee Jae-Yong, also identified as Jay Y. Lee, faces five years to life in prison if convicted and is expected to learn his fate within three months, though years of appeals could follow. The latest: Samsung has admitted donating about $17.5 million to foundations controlled by Choi, but Lee says it was forced to do so by Park, per Yonhap News. However, Lee says he provided money and a horse to help the equestrian career of Choi's daughter, per the BBC. A prosecutor has described this as the "trial of the century" and a lawyer previously involved with the case explains why: It "will draw attention from around the world, not just for the defendant's fame abroad, but also for the size of the alleged bribe," he says. "Every step will be contentious," reports Bloomberg. In the first court hearing Thursday, Lee's lawyers attempted to show a PowerPoint presentation, only to have prosecutors fiercely object. Defense lawyers then complained about a special prosecutor's involvement in the hearing. In some ways, Park is also on trial. A constitutional court is set to decide whether to uphold her impeachment on Friday, a decision that could lead to an election within two months. Bloomberg reports any decision is "almost certain to provoke protests." It won't be anything new. People have been protesting in Seoul for months, many outraged over what they view as "chronic corruption" in dealings between the government and family-run conglomerates. What does this all mean for Samsung's business? The company has said its strong management team will ensure all runs smoothly. But without Lee at its head, major decisions for the company could be delayed.