Former Shinhan Financial Group chairman Ra Eung-chan is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, it was learned on Wednesday.

His alleged illness became known as he refused to be present at court as witness for the group’s embezzlement case due to the disease.

Ra submitted a notice on Monday that he will not be attending court because he is receiving treatment for the disease, according to Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday.

Ra is known to have claimed that he “cannot remember” due to the disease he began to suffer from since the Shinhan case broke out.

Ra stepped down from the post in October 2010 after the lender’s internal power struggle erupted over irregularities involving top officials.

Former bank chief and Ra’s close confidant Shin Sang-hoon was indicted for embezzlement charges of about 1.56 billion won ($1.4 million). Shin had accused Ra of embezzling large sums of advisory fees.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)