SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – Hyundai Motor Group head Chung Mong-Koo was arrested and thrown into a prison yesterday on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust following a month-old probe into a slush fund scandal.

Wearing a sky blue tie and dark business suit, a grim-looking Chung, flanked by two investigators, was led down the steps of the Prosecutor General’s Office and shoved into a waiting car to drive to Seoul Prison.

Earlier yesterday, a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for Chung as requested by the prosecution.

“The court grants the arrest warrant requested by prosecutors for Chung Mong-Koo,” Senior Judge Lee Jong-Seok of the Seoul district court said in a court statement.

“The accused keeps denying the charges and therefore, there is the possibility of the accused trying to go into hiding or destroying evidence,” he said of the reasons why he decided to issue the warrant.

Chung is charged with raising about $130 billion, won or US$138 million of slush funds through the group’s affiliates since 2001.

The 68-year-old chairman was also charged with causing 390 billion won or US$414 million, in damages to the country’s second largest business group through his business misconduct.