Lotte Group chairman stays out of jail as S.Korea court ruling upheld

Lotte

17/10/2019 05:44

SEOUL, Oct 17 (Reuters) - South Korea's Supreme Court on
Thursday upheld a ruling by a lower court that freed Lotte Group
Chairman Shin Dong-bin from jail after he had served several
months for bribery charges involving the country's former
president.
    The Supreme Court ruling means that Shin will remain out of
jail, as it upholds a decision last year to suspend the
remainder of his jail sentence, pending good behaviour over four
years. 
    The decision boosted shares of Lotte Corp  004990.KS , the
holding company of retail-to-chemicals giant Lotte Group.   
Lotte Corp rose as much as 4.2%, while flagship retailer Lotte
Shopping Co Ltd  023530.KS  gained nearly 2%. The broader KOSPI
market  .KS11  was 0.1% lower at 0305GMT.
    "We will try to become a trustworthy company as we
contribute to the nation and society," Lotte Group said in a
statement following the Supreme Court's decision.
    Shin was initially sentenced to a two-and-a-half-year prison
sentence in February 2018 for bribing a close friend of former
President Park Geun-hye as he sought to earn a government
license for Lotte's duty free business. Park had been ousted
amid an influence-peddling scandal in 2017.
    Shin was convicted of providing 7 billion won ($5.90
million) to one foundation controlled by Park's close friend in
return for favours to win a duty free license. 
    Shin appealed the sentence to the Seoul High Court, which
suspended the jail sentence for four years, freeing him from
jail in October 2018 after he had served seven months.
Thursday's Supreme Court ruling upheld that decision.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WL1TL
    The decision on Shin's case came as appeals continue in a
separate bribery case against Samsung Group's  005930.KS  de
facto chief Jay Y. Lee, who was given a five-year jail term in
2017 for seeking favours from Park's administration. 
    The Seoul High Court similarly gave Lee a four-year
suspended sentence on appeal after he had spent a year in
detention. The case was sent back to that court for review last
month, potentially raising the chances of Lee returning to jail.
A new trial is scheduled to commence next Friday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N25P0OB

($1 = 1,186.5500 won)

 (Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Additional reporting by Ju-min
Park; Editing by Jane Wardell)
 ((Heekyong.Yang@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5647;))