Prosecutors seek 10-year jail term for Lotte chairman

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S. Korean prosecutors have demanded a 10-year prison term for Shin Dong-bin, chairman of the Lotte Group, on corruption charges, Yonhap news agency reported.

Shin was slapped with the charges in April, 2017. He is accused of offering millions of US dollars in bribes in return for gaining business favors.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin arriving at Gimpo Airport in Seoul onJuly 3, 2016. /Reuters Photo‍

Lotte, the country's fifth-biggest family-controlled conglomerate, was among scores of chaebols donating tens of millions of US dollars to two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi Soon-sil. She is former South Korean President Park Geun-hye's decades-long friend who is at the center of an influence-peddling scandal.

Lotte lost one of its licenses to operate duty free shops in downtown Seoul in November 2015, but regained it about a year later. There are suspicions that he may have done so in exchange for its contributions to the foundations.

Protesters holding posters during an anti-THAAD rally in front of the Lotte department store in Seoul on Feb 23. /Xinhua Photo

An arrest warrant for Shin was rejected by a Seoul court on Sept 29 last year, just a day before the announcement to change the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment site in southeastern South Korea into a Lotte-owned golf course.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency