Uncertainties lift for Lotte after top court upheld suspended sentence term for chair

South Korea’s top court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling on the suspended sentence for Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin in relation to the multiple bribery cases that ousted President Park Geun-hye, lifting leadership uncertainties for the country’s fifth largest conglomerate.

The Supreme Court endorsed the appeals ruling, where Shin was sentenced to 30 months in prison with four years of probation on charges of bribe offering and dereliction of duty in a corruption scandal that brought down former President Park. Shin was indicted by prosecutors in March, 2016. He was accused of bribing Park and funding 7 billion won ($5.9 million) to K-Sports foundation controlled by her close friend Choi Soon-sil to win a duty-free business license.

Shin was also accused of plotting conspiracy with his father and group founder Shin Kyuk-ho and renting out cafeterias in Lotte movie theaters to a company owned by his family based on unfavorable terms.

Shin was charged of embezzlement for providing wages to his brother Shin Dong-joo, former vice chairman of Lotte Holdings, and to Seo Mi-kyung, common-law wife of Lotte founder Shin and her daughter that do not undertake any roles at Lotte Group.

In the first trial, the court handed down a 30 month prison term to Shin after finding him guilty of bribery and put him under court custody. In a separate case on management corruption, the court also gave 20 months in prison with two years of probation after judging him guilty of embezzling company funds to pay wages to Seo and her daughter and giving lucrative contracts to family members to run cafeterias at movie theaters. The court found him not guilty on charges of embezzlement related to payments provided to former vice chairman Shin as well as of other management malpractices.

In the second trial, which joined two rulings together, the court cleared Shin of the charges on embezzlement related to wages provided to Seo and her daughter. Shin was released after the appeals court reduced his sentence to a suspended jail term upon judging that he was passively involved in the bribery case related to Park. The court, however, still found him guilty on charges of embezzlement for providing bribes and giving out unfavorable cafeteria contracts.

The prosecutors and Shin both appealed to the ruling but the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the suspended jail term.

The chairman’s father and Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, meanwhile, was also sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday with 3 billion won in fine. The prosecutors indicted him on charges of embezzlement and dereliction of duty. Under latest ruling, prosecutors are expected to carry out the execution on Shin who had received a trial without detention due to health reasons.

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