[THE INVESTOR] Prosecutors on Sept. 26 requested an arrest warrant for Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin in their ongoing probe into the retail giant’s mounting corruption scandal.

The Lotte chief, 61, is facing embezzlement and breach of trust charges worth 200 billion won (US$180 million).

Sources say his detainment will be decided on Sept. 28, adding that other owner family members -- Lotte Group founder and the chairman’s father Shin Kyuk-ho, his common-wife Seo Mi-kyung and elder son Shin Dong-joo, former vice chairman of Lotte Holdings in Japan -- are also expected to be indicted soon. 

All of them are suspected of being overpaid by Lotte companies in Korea and Japan even though they have played no management role as registered board members. 

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The Lotte chairman is accused of embezzling over 200 billion won in the process of asset transfers and mergers and acquisitions between the group’s affiliates as well as real estate transactions.

He is also suspected of breaching his duty by giving supply orders to specific affiliates closely linked to the owner family.

He is said to have denied most of the allegations when he was questioned by the prosecution on Sept. 20.

It was the first time that a head of Lotte, the nation’s fifth-largest conglomerate, has ever been summoned since its establishment back in 1967.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)