SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors said Friday they have requested a warrant to arrest the vice chairman of South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate SK Group on suspicions of embezzling a massive amount of group funds.

Chey Jae-won, 48, is suspected of embezzling up to 100 billion won (US$87 million) from SK affiliates to make up for futures investment losses incurred by his elder brother and group chairman Chey Tae-won.

Eighteen affiliates of SK Group, whose key business interests range from telecommunications to oil refining, made a joint investment worth 280 billion won in venture capital company Benex Investment, headed by former SK Group executive Kim Jun-hong, from 2007 to this July.

Of that total, up to 100 billion won was diverted back to bank accounts Kim borrowed from friends and SK Shipping's former employee Kim Won-hong, now hiding in China, who manages a market investment fund for the two owners, the prosecutors said.  

The younger Chey is believed to lead the misappropriation scheme, which purportedly also involved money laundering, they added. 

The prosecution's move came after the vice chairman faced three rounds of intensive interrogation over the assertions. Chairman Chey also came under prosecutors' quizzing early this week, during which he denied the allegations.