LYNN NEARY, host:
NPR's business news starts with a scandal in South Korea.
(Soundbite of music)
Samsung Electronics is known in this country for flat-screen TVs. In South Korea, Samsung is the biggest conglomerate and a large chunk of the economy. That didn't stop a South Korean prosecutor from indicting Samsung's chairman for tax evasion today. He was also indicted for breach of trust, though he was cleared of a more serious bribery charge. A former company lawyer accused some top Samsung managers of keeping a slush fund of more than $200 million to bribe politicians, but the prosecutors decided not to arrest the chairman to avoid disruption at Samsung's 59 companies. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.