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 (
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 (
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 (
Yeh was released on the second highest bail of NT$80 million after her husband Walter Lin (
Lin is chairman of Waterland Financial Holdings Co (
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.
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