The Special Investigation Panel (SIP) yesterday raided more than 50 locations across the country, holding 21 employees of China Metal Products Group (勤美建設) and Prince Housing and Development Corp (太子建設) for questioning.
Prosecutors said they suspected management at the two publicly traded companies had siphoned off hundreds or billions of NT dollars through the purchase of the Splendor Hotel Taichung’s (日華金典酒店) non-performing loans (NPLs).
Prosecutors said they also suspected management at the companies of insider trading, breach of trust and forgery.
Prosecutors did not specify which banks were involved with the disposal of NPLs.
SIP spokesperson Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said an estimated 40,000 stockholders may have fallen victim.
The employees were brought in from Taipei, Keelung, Taichung and Tainan and were questioned at the Tainan District Prosecutors Office, he said.
China Metal Products spokesperson Ho Pei-fen (何佩芬) said in a statement yesterday that the company would cooperate with the investigation.
Ho Ming-shiann (何明憲), chairman and founder of China Metal Products, visited the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office earlier yesterday to help clarify the company’s role in the NPL purchase.
Prince Housing and China Metal purchased the NPLs in 2006.
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