乐天集团掌门人家族因腐败被起诉

SEOUL, South Korea — The head of the South Korean retail giant Lotte, one of the country’s largest family-controlled conglomerates, was indicted on Wednesday on tax evasion, embezzlement and other criminal charges, the latest high-profile corruption scandal to hit big businesses here.

韩国首尔——周三，韩国最大家族企业集团之一、零售巨头乐天(Lotte)的掌门人被当局以逃税、贪污以及其他刑事罪名起诉，这是引人瞩目的腐败丑闻对韩国大企业造成的最新一次沉重打击。

Several relatives of the Lotte chairman, Shin Dong-bin, 61, were also indicted, with the family accused of evading $76 million in taxes over all and costing the company $165 million through embezzlement and breach of trust, South Korean prosecutors said in a news release.

现年61岁的乐天总裁辛东彬(Shin Dong-bin)的若干亲属也遭到了起诉。韩国检察官在一份新闻稿中称，辛氏家族被控总计逃税7600万美元（约合5.12亿人民币），并通过贪污和违背信托责任之举让公司损失了1.65亿美元。

Although corruption scandals have regularly rocked family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebols, in South Korea, it is rare for the entire chaebol family to be indicted together.

在韩国，腐败丑闻撼动由家族控制的企业集团或财团是常有的事，但整个财阀家族一并遭到起诉的情况实属罕见。

In a typical chaebol conglomerate, the chairman’s family owns a small portion of the corporate empire but controls it through loyal executives at subsidiaries that are also interlocked through circular holdings.

一个典型的财阀集团是这样的：集团主席所在的家族只拥有很小一部分股权，但却通过子公司的忠实高管控制着整个企业王国，各个子公司之间也因环形持股而存在盘根错节的关联。

Over the decades, the chaebols have spearheaded South Korea’s export-driven economy.

过去几十年间，这些集团一直是韩国出口导向型经济的开路先锋。

But their imperious chairmen have in several instances been convicted of tax evasion and other crimes, though seldom kicked out of management.

但专断独行的总裁因逃税等罪行而被定罪的案例已经出现过若干起，尽管他们很少被踢出管理层。

Mr Shin is the most prominent head of a chaebol conglomerate to face corruption charges since Lee Jay-hyun, chairman of the food and entertainment group CJ, was arrested in 2013.

继食品及娱乐集团CJ的总裁李在贤(Lee Jay-hyun)于2013年被逮捕以来，辛东彬是面临腐败指控的财阀集团掌门人中最具知名度的一个。

Mr Lee was convicted on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement the next year, but he was released from prison in an annual presidential pardon in August.

李在贤于被捕的第二年被控逃税和贪污，但今年8月，他在每年一度的总统特赦行动中被释放。

Indicted with Mr Shin on Wednesday were his brother, Shin Dong-joo, 62; their 94-year-old father, the Lotte founder, Shin Kyuk-ho; and the senior Mr Shin’s common-law wife and a former winner of the Miss Lotte beauty pageant, Seo Mi-kyung, 57.

在周三与辛东彬一同遭到起诉的包括：他的哥哥、现年62岁的辛东主(Shin Dong-joo)，他们的父亲、现年94岁的乐天创始人辛格浩(Shin Kyuk-ho)，以及辛东主的同居人、现年57岁的前乐天小姐徐美京(Seo Mi-kyung，音)。

None of them was arrested.

他们均未被捕。

In July, Mr Shin’s sister, Shin Young-ja, 73, was arrested on charges of collecting $3.1 million through embezzlement and bribery.

今年7月，辛东彬的姐姐、现年73岁的辛英子(Shin Young-ja)，因被控通过贪污受贿敛财310万美元而遭到逮捕。

And weeks later, as investigators looked into the company, the group’s vice chairman was found dead hours before he was due to appear before prosecutors.

几周后，当调查人员对乐天集团进行调查的时候，集团副总裁于本应出现在检察官面前的数小时前被发现身亡。

The authorities considered the death to be a suicide.

当局认为他死于自杀。

Mr Shin was accused of arranging for his father and other relatives to receive fat salaries from Lotte subsidiaries although they did not work there, prosecutors said.

检察官称，辛东彬被控安排他父亲以及其他亲属在乐天的一些子公司里拿高薪，但他们并没在那些公司工作。

He was also accused of arranging for Lotte subsidiaries to buy stocks of another affiliate at illegally high prices, and giving lucrative contracts — like running cafeterias in a chain of Lotte movie theaters — to a company owned by his family members without conducting competitive bidding.

他还被控安排乐天的一些子公司以非法的高价购买另一家子公司的股票，并把利润丰厚的合约——比如在乐天连锁电影院里经营自助餐厅——给了他的亲属开的一家公司，而未进行竞争性招标。

South Korea has placed restrictions on such deals because chaebol chairmen were often accused of using them to help their children accumulate a fortune.

韩国已经对此类交易做出了限制，因为财团的总裁们经常被控利用这些交易帮助子女积累财富。

A household name in South Korea, Lotte operates department stores, duty-free shops, shopping malls, hotels, amusement parks, multiplexes, burger joints and coffee shops.

乐天在韩国是家喻户晓的企业，经营着百货商店、免税店、购物中心、酒店、游乐园、影城、汉堡店和咖啡店。

It has recently become a symbol of family greed as Mr Shin and his elder brother, Dong-joo, accused each other of corruption in a bitter public feud over the control of the empire built by their father.

它近来成为了象征家族内部的贪欲的符号，因为辛东彬与兄长辛东主在争夺父亲创办的企业王国的控制权之际公开反目成仇，相互指控对方腐败。

The sibling dispute helped uncover a trove of dirty laundry for prosecutors.

这场手足相争导致家丑外扬，帮了检察官的忙。