A sentencing for the convicted chairman of one of the country's largest conglomerates, SK Group, in an appeals trial has been postponed to Sept. 13, court officials said Wednesday.

Chey Tae-won, 53, is currently undergoing appeals after being sentenced to four years behind bars by a lower court in January for embezzling nearly 50 billion won (US$45 million) in company funds to make personal investments in stock futures and options.

The Seoul High Court had originally planned to deliver the verdict on Friday.

"More time is needed to review the relevant records and to draw up the sentencing," said the court officials on the reason for the postponement.

The court officials further said there will be no additional hearings to question a mysterious key figure in the case who was recently arrested in Taiwan.

Kim Won-hong, a former adviser to SK Shipping Co., has been accused by Chey as the main culprit behind the embezzlement scheme.

In the appeals trial, Chey claimed that he failed to get back several hundreds of billions of won from Kim, known as the chairman's private investment agent, after sending the money for investments.

Prosecutors were unable to investigate Kim since he fled to China before a probe into the SK slush fund scandal began. He had since been sought by Interpol.

On Monday, Chey's lawyers asked for resuming arguments, claiming that the court should summon Kim as a witness as soon as he is repatriated to Seoul.

"(The court) disapproves of a request made by Chey's lawyers for an oral argument," said the court officials.

Meanwhile, the prosecution sought to add two years to the prison term for Chey, accusing him of "deriding" the justice system. The prosecution had come under fire when it sought a four-year prison term against the tycoon at a lower court trial, the most lenient sentencing recommended by the Supreme Court for that type of crime. (Yonhap News)