Prosecutors question Samsung chairman

SEOUL, April 4 (UPI) -- Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee said upon leaving a special prosecutor's office in Seoul Friday that he did not engage in bribery.

"I didn't," Lee responded when a reporter asked if he bribed officials, Yonhap reported.

Lee then blamed the media "who have passed on such things."

Prosecutors have already questioned Lee's wife Hong Ra-hee and several other family members, Yonhap reported.

The investigation began after Kim Yong-chul, a former Samsung attorney, alleged in January the company had set up a $202 million fund for bribing officials.

The scandal has South Koreans on edge. The company accounts for nearly a quarter of the nation's exports and gross national product, the report said.