President Park Geun-Hye

Park Geun-Hye faces the next 24 years of her life in prison after being convicted of corruption

The corruption scandal erupted late last year and has engulfed South Korea's political and business elite

Ban has a team of politicians and former diplomats supporting him and has made several campaign-style appearances.

The refusal comes aas a setback to prosecutors probing a corruption scandal engulfing President Park Geun-Hye

The judge may not announce his decision until after midnight

Samsung has acknowledged providing funds to the three institutions

Lee denied some of the suspicions against him but had admitted to others

Ban said he was prepared to meet with the public this week before making a "selfless decision"

Lee would be quizzed as a "suspect" in connection to bribery, prosecutors said

Ban does not belong to any political party and has been out of the country for most of the past decade