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Lotte Homeshopping executives get prison terms for taking bribes

Lotte Homeshopping executives get prison terms for taking bribes

Posted July. 15, 2014 08:37,   

한국어

Prison terms have been sentenced to former and current executives at Lotte Homeshopping who ferreted away hundreds of millions won (hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars) from their subcontractors using their status as the client. Some current executives on whom Lotte Homeshopping said did not want punishment were spared being sentenced to prison.

The Seoul Central District Court said on Friday that it had sentenced to two current executives, identified as Lee, 51, to two years and six months in prison and four years of parole, and to another official identified as Kim, 49, two years in prison, with three years of parole. Lee and other officials were arrested and indicted in April on allegations of embezzling 650 million won (637,880 dollars) from company coffers in 2008-2012 by having interior subcontractors submit false invoices with heavier construction fees than in reality then shaving off the difference. Of the embezzled money, they delivered 225 million won (220,804 dollars) to former CEO Shin Heon, who has been arrested, and spent the rest on entertainment, etc.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced the same day another Lotte Homeshopping official identified as Lee, 47, to three years in prison and former MD identified as Jeong, 44, to 10 months in prison. They were arrested and indicted on charges of having taken bribes from suppliers in return for providing favors, such as allowing them to appear on Lotte Homeshopping programs.