<관련 영문 기사>

Lotte declined FTC's overseas affiliates data requests 4 times: lawmaker

Lotte Group, South Korea's fifth largest family-run conglomerate, repeatedly declined official requests to submit ownership data of its overseas affiliates this year, an opposition lawmaker said Sunday.

Rep. Shin Hak-yong's office said the Fair Trade Commission, the country's antitrust watchdog, asked Lotte on four separate occasions, between January and early July, to provide shareholding records of affiliates outside the country, but the retail giant intentionally dodged the requests.

In particular, Lotte failed to clarify the ownership structure of Kojunsha Corp., a company in Tokyo that acts as the de facto holding company for the entire group, along with Lotte Holdings Co. and some dozen investment firms.

The group has been dealing with calls for more transparency in its ownership structure after the two sons of founder Shin Kyuk-ho engaged in a high-profile feud for control of the chaebol, or a family-run business group, causing public outrage.

Public demand and moves by lawmakers to re-examine the cross ownership structure that allows chaebol owners to keep their vast business empires together nudged Lotte to provide data on overseas affiliates to the Fair Trade Committee last Thursday.

At the time, company officials said the data will show Lotte did not have previously unknown overseas affiliates that were used to influence managerial decisions of local companies.

The FTC is in the process of carefully checking all the information provided.

Officials said that if the new records have information that redraws the map of local Lotte affiliates, it will mean the conglomerate hid critical information from the authorities.

Under the country's fair trade law, businesses do not need to provide information of foreign affiliates' ownership structures, but they are obligated to provide pertinent information if the data is needed to define the boundaries of groups' domestic affiliates.

"If the owner or other family members used these foreign companies to exert control over local affiliates, such companies must be reported, as well as the shareholding structure," the FTC said. It said failure to do so is a criminal offense and can lead to a fine of up to 100 million won ($83,700).

Related to Lotte's actions, Shin, a member of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy party, said if it is discovered that the conglomerate hid critical information in violation of existing laws, this will show that the FTC has not fulfilled its duties. (Yonhap)