[Yonhap News Photo]
Prosecutors questioned the eldest son of Shin Kyuk-ho, the ailing head of South Korea's fifth largest family-run conglomerate, Lotte Group, Thursday as part of a probe into corruption and business irregularities by group executives.
The interrogation of Shin Dong-joo, 62, came a day after the group's founder was placed under the guardianship of an independent law firm for mental incompetence. Shin Dong-joo has been locked in an internal feud with his younger brother, Shin Dong-bin.
Last week, Lee In-won, a Lotte Group vice chairman, hanged himself on a tree in an apparent suicide before he was to turn up for questioning by prosecutors over alleged business irregularities.
State prosecutors have investigated alleged tax evasion, embezzlement and other irregularities by the group's ruling family and executives.
Shin Young-ja, the founder's 74-year-old daughter, was arrested on July 7 on charges of taking kickbacks from a cosmetics firm in return for favorable placement in Lotte's duty-free shops.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
