Prosecutors request 10 years in prison for Lotte chairman

Prosecutors demanded 10 years in prison for Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin on Monday for a string of misconduct in the retail giant’s management.

Shin was indicted last October on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust. He is accused of paying 50 billion won ($44 million) in wages to people who never worked for the company, and inflicting about 130 billion won in losses on some Lotte affiliates by forcing them to cover the losses of other subsidiaries.

The prosecution also requested the court sentence his brother Shin Dong-joo, former vice chairman of Japan-based Lotte Holdings, to five years in prison; their sister Shin Young-ja to seven years; and their father’s mistress Seo Mi-kyung to seven years on similar charges.

Prosecutors asked the court to fine the chairman 100 billion won and the other three members between 12.5 billion won and 220 billion won.

The prosecution said the Shin family “has accumulated a tremendous amount of wealth through illegal means, and the chairman privatized company assets for the sake of his family’s own interests.”

Yonhap