South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday summoned Shin Dong-bin, chairman of the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group, for alleged corruption charges, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
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Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin responds to reporters at a Seoul prosecutors’ office on September 20. It is the first case in the group’s decades-long history that its chairman has faced questioning as a criminal suspect.
“I am sorry for causing concerns”. “I will faithfully cooperate with the prosecution’s probe”.
The investigation into Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate was launched in June, when almost 200 investigators from the prosecution were dispatched to raid Lotte headquarters, at least seven affiliated companies and executives’ residences.
The prosecutors also suspect that Shin was involved in the group’s creation and operation of slush funds. He is also accused of selling the assets of certain affiliates to others at below market prices, according to prosecutors.
Earlier in May, the FTC also imposed a fine of 570 million won on 11 affiliates of Lotte Group for the falsified disclosure.
Currently, all five board members of Lotte Holdings are Japanese excluding the incumbent chairman Shin and Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho.
Apart from the probe, Shin and his elder brother, Shin Dong-joo, are embroiled in a bitter battle for control of the Lotte group.
As a boss at the time of the alleged crimes, Shin, 61, is expected to be a key witness in the investigation which has already seen dozens of Lotte Group officials called in for questioning and company offices raided.
It had been temporary halted last month after the group’s vice-chairman Lee In Won was found dead hours before he was scheduled to be questioned.
The prosecution plans to question him throughout the day and decide on the necessity of asking a court for a pretrial detention warrant later at night.
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An investigation into the founder Mr Shin, 93, would add to the turmoil at one of South Korea’s well-known conglomerates, which has more than 90 units generating more than 100 trillion won in annual revenue.
