South Korean prosecutors have formally charged Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin with bribery after accusing the company of providing Won7bn ($6.1m) worth of funds to the K-Sports Foundation via former President Park Geun-hye’s friend and confidant Choi Soon-sil.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors have alleged that Lotte Chairman Shin paid the money to Choi in return for business favours – including a new downtown duty free license at the Lotte World Tower in Seoul. He denies all the charges.

 

CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST SK’S CHEY TAE-WON

At the same time, prosecutors have dropped all bribery charges levelled against SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, after determining that no monies were offered, despite donation approaches to the company by Choi.

At the same time, former President Park Geun-hye has also been charged with involvement in the approaches by Choi to companies for cash donations, in addition to several other outstanding charges, while prosecutors have also questioned officials at the Korea Customs Service in connection with this case.

 

 

Although Lotte Chairman Shin has been charged, he has not been detained, following several months of intense investigations by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors office.

FIVE COMPANIES ASKED FOR MONEY

As TRBusiness also reported last month, South Korea’s former president was taken into custody and formally arrested and detained on 31 March on criminal charges – including bribery in exchange for ‘business favours’.

Amongst the companies that were allegedly approached for ‘donations’ by Choi Soon-sil last November were Lotte, Samsung, Hyundai, SK Group and the LG Group.

The next stage in this complex set of overlapping cases will see President Park Geun-hye’s legal representatives formally meet with prosecutor’s and judges in a pre-trial non-public court hearing on May 2 (a week before the new presidential election on May 9).

This meeting is expected to confirm the 18 charges of bribery involving large companies in excess of  Won59.2bn ($52.1m) although it is unclear whether Park – who denies all of the charges – will appear in court in person.

It is also understood that Park’s court hearing will be closely linked to that of Choi Soon-sil, who – as stated earlier – is accused of obtaining monies by deception for the K-Sports and Mir foundations in return for business favours.