MOEA levies fines on 4 companies for investing in China

The Ministry of Economic Affairs blacklisted four companies that have illegally invested in China on Friday, levying each a fine of between NT$1 million to NT$2 million.

The four companies include two venture capital companies -- Prudence Capital Co (誠宇創投) and Global Strategic Investment Fund (全球策略投資管理) -- that are managed by former top-ranking government officials Hsu Li-teh (徐立德), a former vice premier under Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), and Yang Shih-chien (楊世緘), vice minister of economic affairs from 1992 to 1993, respectively.

Prudence Capital and Global Strategic will each be fined with NT$1 million -- a one-time fine -- for their illegal investments in Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際集成電路) according to Huang Chin-tan (黃慶堂), executive secretary of the ministry's Investment Commission.

Huang said the government forbids Taiwanese investment in China's semiconductor-manufacturing sector, which makes both venture-capital companies' investment illegal although they had previously agreed to withdraw their capital from SMIC.

Prudence, a Taipei-based venture capital company funded in part by the government's Development Fund (開發基金), allegedly invested US$800 million in SMIC and agreed to dump shares in May while Global Strategic also agreed to pull the plug in October.

In addition, two company chairmen, Tsai Juei-chen (蔡瑞珍) and Tsai Kuan-ming (蔡寬民), will each be given a NT$2 million fine for their illegal investment in Shanghai-based Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (宏力半導體) and the Victory Square (勝利廣場) -- a shopping mall in Dalian (大連), China.

Huang said that both Tsais are required to pull out their capital within six months, otherwise, similar fines will be imposed every six months until they do so.

The four companies have been informed about the government's disciplinary actions, Huang said, adding that the government will be entitled to freeze their properties if they fail to pay the fines before the deadline.

Citing no concrete evidence, the ministry, however, decided not to fine Grace's president Winston Wang (王文洋) -- heir to the Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) fortune -- who was suspected of putting down capital in the company.

Rules stipulate that companies which fail to get governmental approval for their investment in China face fines ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$25 million.

The ministry requires Taiwanese companies to register their China-bound investments with the government.

A total of 23,806 China-bound investment items worth of US$9.1 billion had been registered as of Dec. 26 last year, the ministry said.

It is widely believed that over half of the investments in China that originate in Taiwan are made without the government's permission.