[THE INVESTOR] Almost one out of five Lotte Group companies located overseas are based in suspected tax havens, a report showed on June 23. 

Lotte Group, headed by Shin Dong-bin, is currently under an expanding investigation on suspicion of widespread corruption.

According to a research institute operated by Energy Economy News, 46 of Lotte Group’s 256 offshore companies are located in suspected tax havens.
The institute’s analysis showed that Lotte Group has 26 companies in Hong Kong, nine in Singapore, five in the Netherlands, three in Cayman Islands and one each in Luxemburg, Mauritius and the British Virgin Islands. 

The think tank said that Korean authorities have difficulty in securing information from Hong Kong as there is no bilateral tax accord.

Lotte’s Dutch operation is Lotte Europe Holdings, which controls four subsidiaries including a hotel in Russia. According to the think tank, the Netherlands is favored by Korean firms due to its low corporate tax rate.

Overall, China had the largest number of Lotte Group firms with 82, followed by Vietnam with 23 and the US with 17.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)