Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin/Courtesy of Hotel Shilla

Lack of evidence prompts police to wrap up investigation

Police said last week that they had wrapped up a probe into allegations that Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin illegally took an addictive drug called propofol, due to lack of evidence.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has looked into the case over the past full year after a local media outlet first raised the issue in March 2019, but failed to find evidence that she violated the law.

Police confirmed that Lee took propofol six times in 2016, but the dearth of medical records prompted them not to book the billionaire businesswoman.

The cosmetic clinic in Seoul, which is accused of having administered propofol to Lee, claimed that it lost the hand-written records about the amount of propofol injected to the Samsung Group heiress.

Hence, police had to depend on remarks of the clinic’s officials over the amount used, which did not make a case for illegal use.

Meanwhile, police asked the prosecution to charge the clinic’s head, who is suspected of having failed to manage medical records properly.

“We handed over the case to prosecutors, who will deal with it from now on,” a police officer who took part in the year-long investigation told the Korea News Plus.

Lee, the eldest daughter of Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, has flatly denied the allegations that she gained illegal access to propofol, which was classified as a psychotropic drug here in 2011.

According to some reports, Lee told police that she did not know whether the injected drug was propofol because she was under anesthesia.

But the police officer refused to confirm them.

Lee’s older brother, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, is also accused of having illegally taken propofol. The anonymous police officer said that the prosecution is in charge.
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