Taipei Chief Prosecutor Lin Jinn-tsun (
"There will be a second indictment of suspects, including the China Development Financial Holding Corp Chairman Liu Tai-ying (
Those indicted are Zanadau Development Corp majority shareholder Su Hui-chen (
PHOTO: HUNG CHENG-HUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The seven suspects whose charges will be suspended for two years, are Kaohsiung Fifth Credit Cooperative Credit Investigative Section Chief Hung Chen-hsiung (
All seven have been charged with breach of trust. If they do not break the law within the next two years, however, the charges against them will be automatically dropped.
"The seven suspects' charges were suspended because prosecutors believe they simply accepted orders rather than deliberately committed a crime by receiving bribes of their own volition," Chen Hung-ta said.
Su was charged with violations of the Securities Exchange Law (
Lee Ming-che was charged with corruption, forgery and breach of trust. Prosecutors demanded a 12-year sentence for him, alleging he was the broker behind the scandal.
Hsieh was charged with corruption and faces a possible 14-year sentence for allegedly using Taiwan Fertilizer's money to buy Zanadau stocks and receiving bribes from Su.
Yu Chen was charged with violation of the Securities Exchange Law and breach of trust for allegedly manipulating Zanadau's stocks as the company's president in 1998.
Yu Chen's resignation as a senior adviser to the president was immediately approved by President Chen Shui-bian (
Wong was charged with corruption and faces a possible nine-year sentence for allegedly receiving NT$25 million via Hsieh, as a bribe from Su.
Lin was charged with corruption with a recommended seven-year sentence for helping Su to receive a license for the construction of Zanadau's 11.66 hectare Tahu Commercial Zone (大湖工商綜合區) in Kaohsiung County, when the company did not meet eligibility criteria for such a license.
Lee Ming-se was charged with breach of trust with a suggested four-year sentence. Charges against the rest of the bank's employees were suspended.
They all allegedly helped Su gain financing from the bank, although Su had a poor credit history and was not qualified for the mortgage.
Chinese-language media have reported that prosecutors hurried to wrap up the first indictment yesterday because their deadline for indicting or relasing two of the major suspects -- Hsieh and Lee Ming-che -- falls tomorrow.
Hsieh and Lee have been detained since Oct. 17 last year. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), a detention request is valid for two months if approved by judges connected to the case.
Prosecutors may request another two months, making the total length of the detention four months, if necessary.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS