[THE INVESTOR] The head of Lotte Foundation and elder sister of the Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin was arrested by prosecutors on July 7 for bribery as they widened their probe into the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate.

The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to formally detain Shin Young-ja, 73, over suspicions she received bribes from the former chief of a local cosmetics brand who is at the center of a lobbying scandal that is rocking the country’s legal sector.

“There are considerable reasons to suspect she committed the crime,” the court said, acknowledging the necessity for the arrest.

The daughter of Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho is suspected of pocketing some 3 billion won (US$2.5 million) in kickbacks from Jung Woon-ho, former chief of Nature Republic, and other companies in return for business favors in regards to Lotte’s duty-free shops.

Prosecutors said she is also accused of siphoning off some 4 billion won of company assets from an import distribution firm owned by her son.

Shin became the first of the owner family to be put under detention amid the state prosecutors’ full-fledged probe into the group‘s slush fund allegations.

Prosecutors’ said they will question Shin on diverse issues, from her personal corruption to other irregularities committed by the group.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)