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Court hands down long jail term to Rebar family

The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced Gary Wang (王令麟), former chairman of the Eastern Multimedia Group, to 18 years in prison and a fine of NT$700 million (US$21 million) for his involvement in the Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團) embezzlement scandal.

Gary Wang, the son of Wang You-theng (王又曾), the fugitive founder of the Rebar Asia Pacific Group, embezzled money from various subsidiaries of the Rebar Group and had played major roles in the scheme, the verdict stated.

Gary Wang's six brothers and sisters also received heavy sentences and fines yesterday. Wang Lin-tai (王令台) received a 20-year sentence and a fine of NT$700 million; Wang Lin-i (王令一) 20 years and a fine of NT$100 million; Wang Lin-mei (王令楣) 18 years and a fine of NT$150 million; Wang Lin-chiao (王令僑) 13 years and a fine of NT$300 million; Wang Lin-ke (王令可) 10-years and a fine of NT$100 million and Lawrence Wang (王令興) three years and six months but no fine.

Wang You-theng's younger brother Frank Wang (王事展) received a 16-year sentence and a fine of NT$400 million.

Wang You-theng, his wife Wang Chin She-ying (王金世英) and Gary Wang's wife Tsai Hsueh-ching (蔡雪卿) fled to the US and remain on the nation's most-wanted list.

“Gary Wang, his father Wang You-theng, members of the Wang family and Gary Wang's associates embezzled a total of NT$42.7 billion from the group,” the court said in yesterday's ruling.

A total of 123 defendants were found guilty in the ruling.

Gary Wang and the other defendants were sentenced for violations of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), the Banking Act (銀行法), the Company Act (公司法), the Insurance Act (保險法), the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), corruption, breach of trust, forgery and other offenses, the ruling said.

The Wangs used a number of mechanisms to embezzle funds from the companies between 1998 and 2007.

The ruling said Gary Wang and his family members made illegal profits from the sale of a majority stake in Eastern Multimedia to the US-based Carlyle Group.

The Wangs bought the cable operator's shares before the sale to Carlyle was announced and later profited from selling them at a higher price to the equity firm.

The sale in April 2007 was valued at US$1.3 billion.

The Wangs also embezzled NT$17.48 billion from Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (亞太固網), a local fixed-line operator and a subsidiary of Eastern Multimedia Group.

Gary Wang and his father embezzled NT$3.59 billion from the sale of one of the group's properties to Union Insurance Co (友聯產險), the ruling said.

A total of 71 individuals, including two former finance ministers — Lin Chuan (林全) and Lee Yung-san (李庸三) — and former Financial Supervisory Commission vice chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) and a number of public servants, are under investigation on suspicion of helping the group embezzle funds.
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