Former Pacific CFO released on record NT$120 million bail

Hu Hung-chiu (胡洪九), the former chief financial officer of Pacific Electric Wire and Cable Co (太平洋電線電纜) who has been indicted for embezzling huge amounts of money from the company, was released yesterday on record bail of NT$120 million after his family raised the money three days after the bail verdict was made.

Hu's family paid the highest bail ever demanded by the nation's courts, with NT$30 million in cash and a NT$90 million check. The Taipei District Court requested Hu, also former chairman of chipmaker Mosel Vitelic Inc (茂矽), to post the bail on May 16, and barred him from leaving the country.

Hu was indicted on charges of stealing approximately NT$17.1 billion from 1993 to 1998 when he worked at the company. He is accused of setting up some 140 subsidiary companies in Hong Kong and the Virgin Islands during his time at the firm, and using these companies to launder the money he allegedly stole from Pacific Electric Wire via dummy accounts. At the end of last year, he was indicted by prosecutors, who suggested a 20-year sentence and a fine of NT$1 billion for the former CFO.

To dissuade Hu from leaving the country, prosecutors said they are in the process of filing an appeal to recall the bail, given that Hu's bail is comparatively low to his overseas assets -- not even 1 percent of the amount he allegedly embezzled.

In related news, Sophie Yeh (葉素菲), former chairwoman of Procomp Informatics Co (博達科技) who has also been indicted of embezzling over NT$7 billion, remained in detention after her family failed to raise her NT$80 million bail yesterday. The NT$80 million bail is the second-highest bail demand ever made in Taiwan.

Besides the Procomp embezzlement case, Yeh is currently under investigation for embezzlement activity involving a Procomp subsidiary, Suntek Compound Semiconductor Co (尚達積體電路).

Yeh established Suntek in 2000 and served as the company's chairwoman and chief executive officer. Procomp held a 50 percent stake in Suntek, with the remainder held by Acer Communications and Multimedia, which later changed its name to BenQ (明基電通).