Prosecution seeks arrest of Lotte chairman in bribery probe

South Korean prosecutors are seeking a warrant to arrest chairman Shin Dong-bin of Lotte Group in a corruption probe.

The request follows a questioning of Mr Shin last week.

The move is the latest twist in a continuing probe into the country's fifth largest conglomerate.

The scandal has already hampered a Lotte share sale and is seen as linked to theapparent suicide of a company top executive.

A Lotte Group spokesman confirmed that Mr Shin was in South Korea and would co-operate fully with the investigation.

"It's regrettable that an arrest warrant has been sought," the company said in a statement.

"We will fully present our case during the court proceedings and wait for the wise decision of the court."

In August, the vice chairman of South Korea's Lotte Group, Lee In-won, was found dead hours before he was to be questioned in the corruption probe.

Police investigators said the cause of death appeared to be suicide. The 69-year-old Mr Lee was due to be questioned the same day in an inquiry into a possible slush fund and financial irregularities at the company.

Raids on the company's offices have led to the firm pulling out of a share sale worth as much as $4.5bn (£3bn) for its hotel unit.

Lotte Group has more than 90 firms in sectors as diverse as beer, hotels and chemicals, and has annual revenues of about $60bn, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission.

It is Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate and is considered one of Korea's family-run "chaebols" which are known to have complex ownership structures.