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FB Roundup: Lotte Group, Hanjin Group, and Comcast

By Michael Finnigan

Prosecutors to question Lotte Group founder

State prosecutors in South Korea will visit Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk ho to assess his health condition and decide how best to question the 93-year-old on allegations of tax evasion.

The Lotte Group has been accused of running slush funds worth at least 56 billion won ($50 million) at Lotte Engineering and Construction and restricting business opportunities to the group's affiliates, according to Korea Joongang Daily.

The family of Shin Kyuk-ho has also been accused of evading taxes to the tune of around 300 billion won.

Last week, prosecution were held up after the vice chairman of Lotte Group was found dead hours before he was due to be questioned. Police say the cause of death appeared to be suicide.

Shin Kyuk-ho founded Lotte in Japan in 1948 as a snack maker, but entered Korea in 1967 and has grown the business to be the country's fifth-largest conglomerate.

Hanjin chairman pledges $36 million to resolve shipping cargo crisis

Cho Yang-ho, the chairman of South Korean transportation conglomerate Hanjin Shipping, has agreed to commit $36 million in order to fund unloading of cargo on ships following bankruptcy last week.

The move comes after the South Korean government demanded that its parent company Hanjin Group do more to assist the world's seventh largest ocean shipper.

Parent company Hanjin Group will also allocate $54 million to help resolve the disruption to cargo transport.

About $14 billion worth of cargo is currently being held on Hanjin ships around the globe. They cannot operate normally following the firm's filing for court receivership.

A US judge has granted Hanjin temporary protection from US creditors.

Comcast focus of anti-monopoly investigation after Dreamworks acquisition

Family-controlled media company Comcast will become the focus of an anti-monopoly investigation following complaints that its purchase of DreamWorks Animation could hurt competition in China.

Comcast announced its $3.8 billion takeover of DreamWorks Animation in April, and the deal was cleared by the US Justice Department on August 22.

China introduced its first anti-monopoly law in 2007 and has since issued fines against Audi Chrysler and Qualcomm.

Comcast is headed by chairman Brian Roberts. It was founded in 1963 by his father Ralph Roberts, along with Daniel Aaron, and Julian Brodsky. The Roberts family controls one-third of the shareholder votes in the company, which posted annual revenues of $17.3 billion in 2015.

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