Prosecutors plan to indict SLS Group chairman Lee Kuk-chul on Monday on several charges including bribing a former vice culture minister and other high-ranking government officials.

According to the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office on Sunday, they plan to hand the 73-day-old case to judicial officials after first summoning Lee on suspicions of bribing former vice culture minister Shin Jae-min.

Prosecutors decided to indict the corporate chief on Monday, as the custody time limit expires the same day.

Among the charges against Lee, four have gotten the most attention.

Lee is suspected of providing Shin with a corporate credit card, through which Shin charged some 130 million won ($115,000) in return for business favors.

The chairman is also charged with falsifying his company’s financial status report and receiving some $1.2 billion in refund guarantees from a state-run trade insurance firm.

Lee is also being charged with defamation after claims he gave Kwak Seung-jun, chairman of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, and Lim Jae-hyun, presidential secretary for policy publicity, bribes through Shin.

Lee was also found to have moved some 12 billion won in SLS Group assets to Daeyoung Logics in order to evade an execution of debt repayments.

In October, the Seoul court rejected an arrest warrant for Shin and Lee citing a lack of evidence behind the charges. The following month the court issued a warrant for Lee and prosecutors requested another arrest warrant for Shin.

Prosecutors said they will continue to investigate claims that Lee lobbied Grand National Party Rep. Lee Sang-deuk.

The trial is expected to draw further attention as Lee is expected to expose further claims of corruption among high-level government officials.

Many of the SLS Group’s subsidiaries have filed for bankruptcy or gone into debt-workout programs since the investigation into the chairman began.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)