A Vice Chairman at a large South Korean conglomerate ("chaebol") has died in an apparent suicide:
A senior executive of South Korea's Lotte Group has died, an official at the country's fifth-largest family-run conglomerate told Reuters on Friday, amid a sweeping criminal probe into the business. The official, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said a police investigation into the death of Lee In-won, a Lotte Group Vice Chairman, was underway. He did not elaborate. Yonhap News Agency [...] [adds] that a suicide note was found in the executive's car.
Also at Bloomberg. So what's happening over at Lotte? Alleged tax evasion:
Prosecutors raided additional offices of Lotte Group's policy headquarters Thursday [August 4th] in order to gain evidence regarding alleged tax evasion by group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, officials said Friday. Shin is now suspected of evading roughly 600 billion won ($540 million) of gift taxes while transferring assets to his common-law wife Seo Mi-kyung and their daughter Shin Yoo-mi.
[Continues...]
South Korea's antitrust watchdog has slapped a fine of 500 million won (US$444,000) on Lotte Group (Chairman Shin Dong-bin) for false reporting of its affiliates' shareholders. According to the Fair Trade Commission, 11 affiliates of the South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate, which includes Hotel Lotte, Lotte Logistics and Lotte Corporation, were hit by a combined 570 million won fine on May 27. Under the country's fair trade law, companies with assets exceeding 5 trillion won are obligated to disclose stakes held by the company's head and his or her family members in the company's affiliates at home and abroad.
And finally, on August 24th, potential prosecution:
South Korea's antitrust watchdog is expected to file a petition against Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho with prosecutors for the false reporting of its overseas affiliates' shareholding, informed sources said Wednesday. The secretariat of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has already informed Lotte of the plan for the legal punitive step after a review of the case that happened when Shin was in control of South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate.
[...] Many of Lotte's affiliates are based in Japan or not listed on the South Korean stock market. A number of problems in the group's governance structure have been laid bare with the ongoing secession feud between Shin's two sons: Dong-bin and Dong-joo.
Related Stories
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that relations between South Korea and China are strained after Lotte agreed to provide a site for an American THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea's Jeju Province.
Beijing has issued two "solemn representations" to Seoul over the impending deployment, and the People's Daily, a Communist party mouthpiece, said in an editorial that Beijing could potentially sever diplomatic ties.
On Tuesday, after months of negotiations, South Korean retail giant Lotte Group reached a deal to swap land at its Lotte Skyhill Country Club - a lush, mountainous resort in on the southern side of Jeju Island - for a military-owned parcel on the outskirts of Seoul, making way for the missile shield to be placed on the country club site.
That same day, Chinese authorities fined one of Lotte's Beijing supermarkets $US6500 for displaying a "false advertisement" - a vanishingly rare charge in the city, according to the state-run Legal Daily.
South Korean musicians, cosmetics, and television productions have also been subjected to adverse actions by the Chinese government, the article says.
A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry after a meeting with the Assistant Foreign Minister of China said
Both parties emphasised that collective political and diplomatic efforts should be stepped up to ease tensions and initiate the process of military and political detente across the board in Northeast Asia, in order to create conditions conducive to resolving the nuclear issue, as well as other issues, on the Korean Peninsula.
Submitter's comment: I'm puzzled by the choice of a site to the south of the Korean peninsula.
Additional coverage:
- Stars and Stripes
- Xinhua (Chinese government news service)
- RT (supported by Russian government)
- Value Walk
- Reuters
- CNN
- The Korea Herald
- UPI
- Sputnik (supported by Russian government)
further information:
golfshot.com entry for Lotte Sky Hill Jeju Country Club
previous stories:
- South Korea to Receive U.S. Anti-Missile Interceptor System
- G20 Summit Roundup
- Lotte Group Vice Chairman, Facing Corruption Probe, Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @06:25PM
no aliens
no evil spirits
no ugly women
a flower for every crevice
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday August 26 2016, @06:30PM
So what is that? 1 down 300 million to go? what?
It would be hope, beyond all hope, that every corrupt executive takes his own life.
Good news, everybody!
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @06:31PM
Rumor has it the chairman had evidence against Hilary Clinton.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Friday August 26 2016, @07:02PM
Unlike American executives, at least this guy did the honorable thing. In a just world, there would be a couple of CEO suicides every week.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday August 26 2016, @07:56PM
Actually, the honorable thing would have been to not commit 500 million in tax fraud. If you couldn't do that then the next honorable thing would have been to admit you had done it and save the taxpayers the court expenses. Killing yourself would only be honorable if it was protecting other people and i think that is pretty weak here. I think he killed himself because of shame, not honor. Didn't read the article though...
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday August 26 2016, @09:12PM
Yes, but at least in parts of Asia there are consequences for that sort of thing. In the US, we might put the guy in a white collar prison for a few months if he didn't get his bribes in on time, then let him live out the rest of his life with most of the ill-gotten gains.
Truly, we are barbarians and nobody would do business here because we're tough on white-collar crime. /sarcasm
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @08:30PM
After a week in S. Korea around 1990, we spent our last night in Seoul at the Lotte Hotel. One of those giant, fancy places that had a long history. Might have been the first big "western style" hotel in Seoul? Not cheap. We were assured that all the food prepared in their restaurant had been washed with pure water. I got sick anyway, shouldn't have eaten the salad. (had been only eating cooked food for the prior week, should have stuck with my plan).
So they were cheaping out back then too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @09:48PM
I've never tried their hotels, but their chewing gum is my favourite because it's so flavourful. The black kind is coloured with octopus or squid ink.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @09:54PM
To earn my 500 ₩ for posting, I must mention the brand name, which is Xylish. Buy Lotte Xylish gum!
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday August 26 2016, @08:43PM
For a couple hours I've been trying to phrase a comment to the effect of too bad HRC doesn't have the same integrity. But everything I can think of means the secret service will be knocking on my door RSN, and even this is skating it.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @08:47PM
I have a solution: don't be an asshole. Dilemma solved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @12:39AM
You're right. He should just come out and say what he wants to say. Anything else is the behavior of an asshole.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @06:27PM
Another solution would be to have referred to HSBC instead. A corporation (bank) that was found guilty of laundering drug money and then wrist slapped and let to go about its business. It would have been a much better analogy and without the partisanship.
(and honestly, as much as I dislike Hillary, comparing proven guilty corporations to assumed guilty corporations is a much better comparison than comparing an assumed guilty corp to a person who has been investigated, I couldn't even tell you how many times, and not found guilty. Those kinds of results scream politics more than guilt.)