Seoul — Samsung Group said it would disband its corporate strategy office after a special prosecution probe ends, setting a timeline on a pledge to wind up a power centre that has been criticised for its role in South Korea’s infamous graft scandal. The strategy office, consisting of about 200 elite staff hand-picked from affiliates of the nation’s top conglomerate, is the vehicle through which the founding Lee family makes key decisions such as restructuring and investments for new businesses, insiders and analysts say. It has been under intense scrutiny as the South Korean special prosecutor’s office investigated the smartphones-to-biopharmaceuticals business empire as part of a wider investigation into the scandal that threatens to permanently unseat President Park Geun-hye. Special prosecution has classified Jay Y Lee, third generation leader of Samsung Group, and head of the corporate strategy office Choi Gee-sung as suspects in its bribery investigation on suspicions that Sams...

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