S.Korea probe to call Samsung chair again-report

SEOUL, April 10 (Reuters) - A South Korean special counsel will again question Samsung Group's chairman after quizzing the powerful businessman last week in a probe of corruption at the corporate giant, local media reported on Thursday.

Prosecutors asked Lee Kun-hee to appear for questioning on Friday to answer allegations made by a former top Samsung Group [SAGR.UL] legal executive that the company bribed officials to quash investigations into questionable management practices, Yonhap news agency reported a prosecutor as saying.

The Special Prosecutor's office declined to comment on the report.

"We are calling him in again to wrap up the investigation and because there are parts yet to be clarified," Yonhap quoted the prosecutor as saying.

A Samsung Group spokesman said he could not confirm the report. The company has called the accusations groundless and said it was "surprised and concerned" when Lee was first summoned.

Just prior to his appearance last week, Lee denied that he had directly ordered the formation of a slush fund.

South Korea launched the special probe in January after the legal executive said the country's largest conglomerate kept a war chest of over $200 million to bribe officials.

The country's family-owned conglomerates known as "chaebol" have been accused for years of having opaque management.

Some of their leaders have been convicted of white-collar crime, but have avoided long jail sentences due to judges who felt such penalties could hurt the economy.

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is South Korea's biggest company and the flagship of the Samsung Group. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Lee Jiyeon, editing by Marie-France Han and Keiron Henderson)