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| Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun faces multiple criminal charges. Yonhap |
By Lee Min-young
Prosecutors Wednesday sought a 12-year prison term and a fine of 7.3 billion won for Booyoung Group chairman Lee Joong-keun on charges of embezzlement and tax evasion, among other crimes.
Lee was arrested in February and charged with embezzling 430 billion won from the medium-sized building conglomerate and pocketing 1 trillion won of illicit gains by bloating construction costs to inflate rental apartment prices.
Lee was released on bail for health reasons in July. He came to court in a suit carrying a cane.
"He inflicted a great deal of damage to ordinary people," the prosecutor said during a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court.
Booyoung, its business portfolios focusing on building and leasing apartments, has been embroiled in an alleged corruption scandal since tax authorities started to zero in on it.
Meanwhile, prosecutors rejected an arrest warrant request sought by police Tuesday for Lee Hwa-kyung, the vice chairwoman of the nation's largest confectionery maker Orion Group, on charges of embezzlement.
According to legal sources, prosecutors turned down the warrant request citing a lack of explanation to substantiate her charges.
Lee is suspected of siphoning off some 20 billion won of company funds from 2008 to 2014 to build a mansion in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province.
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