Former Lotte Chemical chief summoned over irregularities

SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) — A former chief of Lotte Chemical Corp., the chemicals maker of retail giant Lotte, was summoned by prosecutors Tuesday to face questioning over the company’s alleged fake accounting books.

Ki Joon appeared before the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office as a suspect as prosecutors widened their investigation into the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate early last month.

“I will tell everything based on facts,” he told reporters before entering the prosecutors’ office. “Please wait until the probe results come out.”

KP Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of Lotte which later turned into Lotte Chemical, is suspected of filing a suit against the government in 2006 with doctored accounting records and getting some 27 billion won (US$24 million) in tax refunds.

Prosecutors said they will question Ki over whether he was involved in the forging of the books and whether the conglomerate’s chairman Shin Dong-bin took part in the alleged scheme.

Lotte, which has sprawling businesses in both South Korea and Japan, has been rife with a series of scandals since last year, including an internal power struggle between Shin Dong-bin and his older brother for managerial control.

Ki Joon, former chief of Lotte Chemical Corp., answers reporters’ questions at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on July 19, 2016. KP Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of Lotte which later turned into Lotte Chemical, is suspected of filing a suit against the government in 2006 with doctored accounting records and getting some 27 billion won (US$24 million) in tax refunds.