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Eastern Media boss accused after raids

Taipei prosecutors yesterday accused Eastern Multimedia Group (東森多媒體) chairman Gary Wang (王令麟) of involvement in several bribery and corruption cases after raiding his offices and residences at 30 different locations.

Raids were still under way at press time.

Prosecutors suspect that Gary Wang, son of fugitive and former Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸集團) chairman Wang You-theng (王又曾), is involved in at least four bribery and corruption cases.

"Our raids on Gary Wang's offices and residences began at 10am, and five prosecutors are working on the case," said Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村), spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office. "So far, we have summoned and talked to 26 people from Gary Wang's company and we will summon him sometime this evening."

Gary Wang reported to the Bureau of Investigation's Taipei office at around 6:30pm and was still undergoing questioning at press time.

At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Lin said that prosecutors began to suspect Gary Wang of involvement while they were investigating his father.

The first case accuses Gary Wang of illegally selling the group's stocks at an unreasonably low price.

The probe revealed that the group spent NT$3 billion (US$91 million) on construction of its headquarters in Guandu (關渡), Taipei City, which is expected to be completed in 2010.

However, prosecutors said that Gary Wang sold the shares because he needed more money after approximately NT$4 billion of the group's cash was frozen when the Wang You-theng investigation was launched.

The second case alleges that Gary Wang stole NT$27.2 billion from Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (亞太固網), a local fixed-line operator and a subsidiary of Eastern Multimedia Group. The case was also part of Wang You-theng's investigation and Gary Wang is alleged to have helped his father.

In the third case, prosecutors allege that Gary Wang tried to avoid paying taxes by selling one of the group's properties to Union Insurance Co (友聯產險) and subsequently renting out the property.

Prosecutors discovered that the Union Insurance Co spent NT$150 million buying one of the group's buildings in Nangang (南港), Taipei City, and then leased the building back to the group.

Gary Wang's group was then able to avoid taxes and enjoy cheaper rent since the insurance company was one of the group's subsidiaries, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also suspect that Gary Wang may have bribed Taipei City Government officials to win the contract to operate the Taipei Arena for nine years.

The bidding opened on May 25, 2005, with the minimum price set at NT$1.53 billion for the nine-year contract. Wang's group won with a bid of NT$1.58 billion, a figure prosecutors allege was suspiciously close to the minimum figure.

Eastern Multimedia spokesman Chen Cheng-yi (陳正毅) said yesterday that the company would cooperate fully with the investigation, adding that Gary Wang had remained in the office all day to answer prosecutors' questions.

Chen refused to comment on the four separate bribery or corruption cases that his boss was alleged to be involved in.

The raid hurt the group's listed arm Eastern Media International Corp (東森國際), of which Gary Wang is the chairman. Shares of Eastern Media International plummeted by the 7 percent daily limit to close at NT$8.63 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.

Additional reporting by Jessie Ho
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