Taiwan High Court says Hu must stay behind bars

The Taiwan High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court ruling that would have allowed for the release of 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), on record bail of NT$120 million (US$3.8 million).

The high court said the district court failed to elaborate on the concrete reasons for ending Hu's detention, and therefore agreed to the appeal filed by prosecutors, local cable TV quoted Taiwan High Court spokesman Wen Yau-yuan (溫耀源) as saying.

Hu was indicted on charges of stealing approximately NT$17.1 billion from 1993 to 1998 when he worked at Pacific Electric Wire.

The high court's collegiate bench deemed that Hu is highly likely to escape and thus overruled the order and sent the case back to the district court to rule again, Wen said.

Prosecutors said they appealed to the high court to recall the bail, because the amount was comparatively low compared to his overseas assets -- not even 1 percent of the amount he allegedly embezzled.

In response, Taipei District Court spokesman Huang Jiunn-ming (黃俊明) said the district court will call the court to rule on the case once again after receiving the high court's order.

Huang, however, did not elaborate on whether the district court may make a verdict unfavorable to Hu this time.

Hu was set free on Thursday, after his family raised enough money in three days to pay the highest bail ever demanded by the nation's courts. He was sent to Taipei Veterans General Hospital for a health check yesterday.

Hu was indicted by prosecutors, who suggested a 20-year sentence and a fine of NT$1 billion for the former chief finance officer of Pacific Electric Wire.

Separately, Sophie Yeh (葉素菲), former chairperson of Procomp Informatics Co (博達科技) and was indicted for embezzling over NT$7 billion from the company, was released from holding yesterday.

Yeh was released on the second highest bail of NT$80 million after her husband Walter Lin (林華德) managed to raise the funds within three days following the bail order made by Shihling District Court on Tuesday.

Lin is chairman of Waterland Financial Holdings Co (國票金控), the smallest among the nation's 14 financial service providers.

The bail ended the 11 month-long detention of Yeh, on whom the prosecutors recommended a sentence of 20-year imprisonment and a fine of NT$500 million.

Like Hu, Yeh was barred from leaving the country.