Eastern Multimedia Group (東森多媒體) chairman Gary Wang (王令麟) yesterday repaid NT$150 million (US$4.58 million) to Chung Hwa Bank (彰化銀行) and other banks as the first installment of the promissory note he signed as a guarantor for insolvent Chia Hsin Food and Synthetic Fiber Co (嘉新食品化纖).
Complying with an agreement reached earlier with the creditor banks, Wang will still be required to repay another NT$250 million by the end of this year, and the remaining NT$600 million over the next three years.
Wang is responsible for his personal endorsement of a syndicated loan of NT$1.4 billion to Chia Hsin. He had reached agreement with creditor banks in amortizing the NT$1 billion-promissory note which he had signed to guarantee the NT$1.4 billion loan.
Overall, he will have to repay a total of NT$6.3 billion for which he acts as a guarantor on bank loans to both Chia Hsin and China Rebar Co (中國力霸).
Wang yesterday reassured the public that he would fully cooperate with the government's probe over the scandal involving Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團).
In a statement released yesterday, Wang said that the Eastern Multimedia Group and Rebar Group are two independent companies and have no abnormal financial dealings.
To facilitate the investigation, Wang handed financial data of Eastern Media International Corp (東森國際) and Eastern Broadcasting Co (東森電視) for the past 10 years to the prosecutors for inspection on Monday, the statement said.
Wang said his properties -- which have not changed since 1990 -- can be examined as well. His NT$3 billion-investment in Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (
Meanwhile, Chia Hsin said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday that seven of its checks, for a total value of NT$1.29 million, had bounced.
Since Chia Hsin's insolvency protection was approved, it had bounced checks for a total of NT$5.42 million as of yesterday.
China Rebar also said yesterday that its 210 checks for NT$101.6 million had
bounced yesterday, adding the value of bounced checks to NT$376 million.
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