Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin was sentenced to two-and-half-years in prison on Tuesday (13 February) for bribery by The Seoul District Court.

The court said Shin Dong-bin offered KW7bn ($6.5m) to Choi Soon-sil, friend and adviser to former president Park Geun-hye in order to be granted special favours such as a licence to open a duty free shop and to have more of a controlling influence over the group.

Choi herself, was also sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years for corruption, influence-peddling and abuse of power.

As reported by TRBusiness in September, The South Korean Prosecutor’s office sought a warrant for the arrest of Shin Dong-bin in a separate case on grounds of embezzlement and breach of trust. He was later given a suspended sentence.

SHARE DROP

Lotte Group shares dropped 6% in Seoul this morning (14 February), according to international news outlet Bloomberg, following the arrest of Shin Dong-bin, who was expected to escape jail and head to the Lotte resort near Pyeongchang where the Winter Olympics are underway.

His arrest, which has sent shockwaves across South Korea and beyond, could have much wider implications as far as the group’s planned IPO is concerned and future operation of its Lotte World Tower store, which re-opened in January 2017. This was after a six-month closure of the duty-free section in the building after Lotte lost the licence back in 2015.

According to Bloomberg, The Korea Customs Service is deciding whether to cancel the license required to operate the outlet amid legal reviews.