A local court is preparing to try the son of a former South Korean business tycoon who was recently arrested after 21 years on the run from embezzlement charges.

According to the Seoul Central District Court on Friday, the first pretrial hearing for Chung Han-keun will be held on July 18th. 

Chung is suspected of embezzling some 32-point-two billion won worth of funds from an affiliate of the now-defunct Hanbo Group in 1997 and stashing the money in a Swiss bank account.

He fled South Korea while under investigation in 1998 and is known to have lived in Canada, the U.S. and South America under fake identities until he was ultimately arrested in Panama and extradited to South Korea in June.

The prosecution had indicted him in 2008 on charges of embezzling and taking undue funds out of the country. 

His charges are known to be part of a massive bribery and embezzlement scandal involving Hanbo Group, which was created and managed by Chung's father, Chung Tae-soo. It was at one time South Korea's second-largest steel conglomerate.

The elder Chung was convicted of handing out massive bribes to lawmakers and officials to help the Hanbo fend off billions of dollars of debt. The former tycoon also fled the country in 2007. 

The junior Chung has claimed that his father died last year in Ecuador, and allegedly furnished a death certificate and an urn with his father's ashes as evidence to local authorities.