SEOUL: The friend at the center of a corruption scandal engulfing South Korean President Park Geun-hye's administration, said on Monday she had no prior knowledge of Samsung Group's plans for a controversial 2015 merger of two affiliates.
"Even if I knew, I could not have passed on any information because I have no knowledge about mergers or hedge funds, anything like that, in the first place," the friend, Choi Soon-sil, told a public hearing at South Korea's Constitutional Court on Monday.
South Korea's Constitutional Court began hearing arguments this month on whether to uphold parliament's vote last month to impeach President Park.