Prosecutor accuses Samsung chief of conspiring to hide millions in bribes made to South Korea's impeached president

SEOUL (Reuters) - A special prosecutor accused Samsung chief Jay Y. Lee of plotting to make fake documents to disguise millions of dollars in bribes.

South Korea's President Park Geun-hye colluded with her friend Choi Soon-sil to receive the bribes from Samsung Group, the prosecutor said in a statement on Monday. The bribes were made to cement Lee's control of the company, according to the prosecutor.

The accusations against the heir to a $238 billion (£193 billion) empire were released by Park Young-soo, the prosecutor leading the investigation.

Park accused Lee of purgery for failing to admit that he knew his company had allegedly paid money to entitites controlled by Choi Soon-sil and for failing to acknowledge that he wasn't asked by President Park Geun-hye to provide financial support, Bloomberg reports.

Samsung allegedly paid 43 billion won ($37 million; £30 million) into entities overseen by Choi Soon-sil .

In a statement detailing the findings of its investigation, the special prosecutor's office said the National Pension Service voted in favor of a merger of two Samsung Group affiliates in 2015, despite anticipating a 138.8 billion won ($119 million; £98 million) loss.

The investigation looked into an influence-peddling scandal involving President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached by parliament in December after accusations she had colluded with her long-time friend Choi to pressure big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back the president's policy initiatives.

Lee, who has denied any wrongdoing, is the third-generation leader of South Korea's massive Samsung Group and scion of the country's wealthiest family.

Divorced with two children, Lee has a net worth of $6.2 billion (£5.1 billion) and a $4 million (£3 million) Seoul mansion. The Samsung Group he heads is the world's biggest manufacturer of smartphones, flat-screen televisions, and memory chips, and Lee is accustomed to rubbing elbows with Silicon Valley titans such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Apple's Tim Cook.

After being arrested last month, he was put into a 71-square-foot detention cell with a toilet in the corner behind a partition. He had no shower, only a washstand. His bed was a mattress on the floor.

Lee will go on trial for bribery and embezzlement on Thursday.

"We are preparing hard, thinking that the upcoming Samsung trial ... could be the trial of the century that the entire world will be watching," Park Young-soo told reporters last week.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Writing by Christine Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)