The third wife of the embattled Lotte Group's founder has been indicted on charges of tax evasion without being questioned as she failed to comply to prosecutors' summons, authorities said Tuesday.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office looking into alleged corporate crimes of the country's fifth-largest conglomerate said Seo Mi-kyung, 57, is suspected of evading some hundreds of billions of won in gift taxes.

The common-law wife of group founder Shin Kyuk-ho became the second member of the owner family to stand trial after Shin's daughter Young-ja. The 74-year-old daughter was indicted in July on charges of embezzlement, bribery and breach of trust.

Prosecutors here have been looking into Lotte's alleged wrongdoings since they launched full-fledged raids into the group's headquarters in June.

Earlier on Monday, prosecutors sought a warrant to arrest the group chairman Shin Dong-bin as the high-profile corruption probe neared its conclusion.  (Yonhap)