Investors dump Infodisc shares as scandal looms

Investors dashed to dump more than 100 million shares of Infodisc Technology Co (訊碟科技) yesterday after the compact disc and digital video disc maker came under government investigation over an alleged financial scandal.

Shares of Infodisc tumbled 6.81 percent to close at a record low of NT$3.97 on the TAIEX yesterday.

On Wednesday, Infodisc shares fell to the market limit, closing at NT$4.39, after the company on Tuesday reported a loss of NT$6.93 per share for the first half of the year over losses of NT$4.28 billion (US$127 million) incurred by its US subsidiary Mediacopy Texas Inc.

Company chairman David Lu (呂學仁) resigned from his post on Tuesday over the loss.

The company on Thursday appeared to be running into more trouble over a NT$2.62 billion investment which the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp found to be questionable. The company's offices have been raided for the past three days.

During its investigation, the regulatory agency found that Infodisc shelled out NT$2.62 billion on the Gold Target Fund registered in the Cayman Islands. The authorities also found that the bill was remitted from Rabobank's Singapore branch on June 30, ahead of the fund's establishment on July 19, and the company did not make public the investment plan until Aug. 27.

Furthermore, the stock exchange said that the company could not present any stock certificates or money orders for the remittance, adding that the Gold Target Fund mainly invests in bonds, rather than the movie industry as Lu has claimed.

At a press gathering held on Thursday as required by the financial authorities, Lu explained that the company delayed the announcement of the investment because it had signed a confidentiality clause with the fund.

The explanation, however, failed to convince the stock exchange authorities yesterday.

The regulatory agency ordered Infodisc to produce all related documents by Monday, or else face being banned from trading on margin as soon as Wednesday.

"We've submitted all the required documents to the stock exchange. Hopefully the information will help to clear up suspicion," an Infodisc public relations official said on condition of anonymity yesterday.

Infodisc was also investigated by public prosecutors after a report claimed that high-level officials in the company were involved in embezzlement and insider trading a month ago, said Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), spokesman of the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office.

The Infodisc case follows in the wake of embezzlement allegations against Procomp Informatics Ltd (博達科技), which defaulted on corporate bonds of NT$2.98 billion three months ago. Procomp had also wired money from Rabobank to buy funds.

Wu Tang-chieh (吳當傑), director-general of the Securities and Futures Bureau, told reporters that the public should not jump to conclusions, as investigations were still under way.

"Don't put an equal sign between the Procomp scandal and Infodisc," Wu said.

Kong Jaw-sheng (龔照勝), chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, urged investors to have confidence in the market, saying that "most listed companies in Taiwan are financially healthy."