April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] A Seoul court on Dec. 22 sentenced Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin to 20 months in prison with a two-year suspension for embezzlement and breach of trust. 

In the ruling on the owner family of the nation’s fifth largest business group involved in an array of management irregularities, the Seoul Central District Court also meted out a four-year jail term to his father and group founder Shin Kyuk-ho.

Shin Dong-joo, the chairman‘s elder brother and former vice president of Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings, was found not guilty. 

The court sentenced Shin Young-ja, the chairman’s elder sister and head of the Lotte Foundation, to two years in prison. The founder’s mistress received a suspended sentence.

Prosecutors demanded 10 years for both the chairman and his father.

The Shin family were indicted last year on a string of charges including embezzlement and breach of trust. They stand accused of paying 50 billion won of wages to family members when they had never worked for the company.

Prosecutors have accused them of inflicting 130 billion won in losses on the conglomerate’s units by forcing them to cover the losses of other subsidiaries.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)