Prosecutors indict third wife of Lotte Group founder for tax evasion

By Park Sae-jin Posted : September 27, 2016, 11:15 Updated : September 27, 2016, 11:15

[Yonhap News Photo]


South Korean prosecutors have indicted the common-law wife of Lotte Group's ailing 93-year-old founder as she refused to return from a trip to Japan, ignoring a series of summons for questioning.

Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho is suspected of evading taxes in transferring shares and assets to his family members and his 57-year-old third wife, Seo Mi-kyung, who can be repatriated for trial in South Korea.   

The indictment came Monday when prosecutors sought a warrant to arrest group chairman Shin Dong-bin, following an extensive three-month probe into alleged tax evasion, embezzlement and other irregularities by the group's ruling family.

Seo is the 1977 winner of the group's Miss Lotte beauty pageant and has a 33-year-old daughter with Shin. Prosecutors have already seized Seo's assets estimated at up to 300 billion won (270 million US dollars).

The founder is suspected of dodging taxes in the process of donating a 6.2-percent stake in Lotte Holdings to Seo and other family members. Lotte Holdings is the group's de facto holding firm based in Tokyo.

Lotte, which has sprawling businesses in South Korea and Japan, has been hit by a bitter feud between the founder's two sons for managerial control.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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