South Korean prosecutors have charged Lee Jae-yong, Samsung’s de facto boss, with bribery and embezzlement in connection with the country’s sprawling political corruption scandal, leaving the company leaderless as it attempts to recover from the fallout surrounding its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

Yesterday’s move is a severe blow to plans within South Korea’s largest conglomerate to shift leadership to the third generation of the group’s founding family. Mr Lee is the grandson of legendary founder Lee Byung-chul.

The indictment of the 48-year-old vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, along with four other executives, comes as the technology-to-finance group attempted to draw ahead of the deepening scandal by announcing a series of governance reforms, including dismantling its corporate strategy office, which has come under scrutiny for its role in lobbying political figures.