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A special prosecutor concluded a high-profile investigation of Samsung Group by leveling tax-evasion and breach-of-trust charges against its chairman, but left him in control of South Korea's biggest conglomerate.

Samsung indicated it took the situation seriously, saying it would restructure and disclose details next week. The changes could include the retirement of the indicted chairman, Lee Kun-hee, who has led Samsung since 1987 and is one of the most powerful leaders in the nation.

The two nationally televised announcements, which came within minutes of each other Thursday afternoon, marked the climax of a six-month saga that began with a former Samsung attorney's accusations of systemic bribery at Samsung and turned into a prolonged, national shaming of the company, its top executives and founder's family.

The special prosecutor decided to indict Mr. Lee and nine other executives but not arrest them. Mr. Lee and the executives eventually will be tried. Arresting the 10 could lead to 'negative repercussions on our economy,' said the special prosecutor, Cho Joon-woong. 'We do not feel that taking into custody and bringing the accused to court is absolutely necessary,' he said.

The apparently contradictory decision mirrors the broader, competing sentiments in South Korean society toward Samsung -- as well as a handling of justice that puts a greater emphasis on public sentiment than it does on Western-style rule of law. Attorneys who deal with foreign companies here often warn their clients about this tendency.

Many South Koreans feel the 59-company conglomerate, which accounts for about 15% of the national economy, has too much power and occasionally wields it badly. But they also feel Samsung is too big and important to the country to risk damaging it via legal action.

The result in this case may be that Samsung, rather than the courts, takes the most significant action resulting from the indictment. Signaling that it is watching the public fallout from the special prosecutor's decision, Samsung said the corporate reforms it announces next week will be 'based on advice from various sectors of our society.'

After Mr. Lee was questioned by the special prosecutor for a second time earlier this month, he said he might resign and make other changes to the group, which includes Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest maker of televisions and memory chips and No. 2 maker of cellphones. Mr. Lee, 66 years old, has led the group since the death of his father, who started Samsung with a single trading firm in 1938.

After Thursday's announcements, Korean online message boards quickly filled with reaction that reflected the public division over Samsung. The former Samsung attorney whose accusations led to the inquiry, Kim Yong-cheol, said he was disappointed by the outcome. 'The special prosecutors investigated a way to acquit Samsung,' he told Kyunghyang, a South Korean newspaper.

Samsung's companies have shown little effect from the scandal. Samsung Electronics, one of the most widely held Asian companies, is perched to announce stellar first-quarter results next week despite difficulties from a cyclical downturn in its memory-chip business.

But Samsung's rapid response to the indictment fit a pattern for the way it has coped with other high-profile legal difficulties in recent years: by quickly taking big steps to mollify public anger. In early 2006, for instance, Samsung donated about $825 million to charities after its executives were cleared following allegations of political bribery.

The scale of any changes Samsung unveils this time may determine whether the conglomerate frees itself from the cycle of public criticism and criminal investigations that it has endured every two or three years for the past decade. That pattern emerged, analysts say, because the group too often appeared to put Mr. Lee's interests above those of shareholders and Koreans, many of whom believe that Samsung owes a special debt to society because government decisions and support assisted its growth in the 1960s and 1970s.

'When Samsung began to grow, it was in an institutional environment where it had strong government influence and a lot of hurdles to solve,' says Yee Jae-yeol, a sociologist at Seoul National University. 'In that system, it had to rely on under-the-table techniques, such as slush funds and making connections with regulators. But that time is over.'

At the center of the latest scandal is the method that Mr. Lee used to transfer control of Samsung Group to his son. Mr. Kim alleged that bribes were involved, which led the special prosecutor to investigate a series of stock and bond transactions and ultimately charge Mr. Lee with breach of trust.

But the special prosecutor stopped short of trying to reverse the transfer of control, leaving Samsung to make its own reforms. 'Everything is in the hands of Samsung, not the government, not the courts,' says Jang Ha-sung, a Korea University business professor and specialist in corporate governance.

Throughout the latest affair, Samsung denied wrongdoing but acted internally as if under siege, telling some employees to wipe out email files and take greater care discussing business outside the office. Privately, employees hoped the latest investigation would be thorough enough to persuade South Koreans that Samsung had moved on from old practices and bring an end to the cycle of criticism and legal troubles.

After being named special prosecutor in late December, Mr. Cho moved quickly to signal he would be more aggressive than previous investigators of Samsung, staging a raid on Mr. Lee's home office with television and newspaper photographers in tow.

Even so, Mr. Cho walked a tightrope to find a balance between the societal demands for accountability at Samsung without harm to the Korean economy. The result was evident in his explanation for the decision to make indictments without arrests.

'It is obvious to say that the law must apply equally to each and every person,' Mr. Cho said. 'But equal application of the law does not mean to completely ignore factors such as individual characteristics or the circumstances of that time.'

The former Samsung attorney, Mr. Kim, received support from a group of Catholic priests who were active in South Korea's democracy movement in the 1980s, adding a political tinge to the affair. After Thursday's action, Kim In-gook, the priest who acted as a spokesman for Mr. Kim, said, 'My heart aches. We have nothing to say at the moment. We will pray for now.'

Evan Ramstad