Wei Ying-chung (魏應充), the former chairman of Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新製油實業) and Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) who was found guilty of fraud in a tainted oil scandal exposed in 2013, yesterday began to serve his two-year prison term.
“Since this is God’s way of testing me, I will face it calmly... We should all walk away from hatred, antagonism and rumor-mongering. I want to thank all my friends and family, as well as employees, for their support throughout the trial and for believing in my innocence. Thank you,” Wei said as he reported to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in the morning for transfer to Taipei Prison.
“Wei’s sentence is a warning issued by the justice system, but it is not the realization of justice,” Wei’s lawyer Yu Ming-hsien (余明賢) said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Wei is the third of four brothers who own Changhua County-based Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), which operates numerous food brands, including Master Kong (康師傅) instant noodles, Wei Chuan Foods and Dicos (德克士).
He took charge of the group’s cooking oil business and Wei Chuan in Taiwan before the scandal.
In late 2013, Ting Hsin Oil and Fat was found to have used tainted oil obtained from Chang Chi Foodstuff Co (大統長基) in its products since 2007.
Chang Chi mixed cottonseed oil and other cheap oils into its more expensive grape-seed and olive oil products, and in some cases added copper complex chlorophyllin, a colorant used to make the substitutes look more like olive oil.
In 2014, Ting Hsin Oil and Fat, along with Cheng I Food Co (正義油品), another firm previously headed by Wei, were found to have used gutter oil and imported oil meant for animal feed in its lard-based cooking oil products.
The oils were also used by Wei Chuan in its food products.
On Oct. 21, 2014, prosecutors indicted Wei, former Ting Hsin Oil and Fat president Chang Mei-feng (常梅峰) and former Wei Chuan president Chang Chiao-hua (張教華), along with several others, on charges of fraud, forgery and violations of food regulations.
Prosecutors said that Wei, in a bid to cut production costs, changed the formulas of the company’s 14 blended oil products, including one that used 98 percent cheap palm oil and only 1 percent or 2 percent olive or grape-seed oil, but marketed it as a premium class of blended oil.
Wei was originally sentenced to four years in prison by the Taipei District Court in a first trial in March last year, during which Chang was acquitted and the others were given prison terms ranging from five months to 46 months.
After an appeal by Wei, the Intellectual Property Court reduced his sentence to two years in a second trial in April last year.
The ruling is final and cannot be appealed, because prosecutors charged Wei and the other defendants with fraudulent labeling of products.
As a result, the case fell under the jurisdiction of the Intellectual Property Court, which found Wei and the other defendants not guilty of knowingly using adulterated oil obtained from Chang Chi.
There was insufficient evidence to show that Wei and the other defendants had knowledge of or could have reasonably foreseen the use of tainted oil, the Intellectual Property Court said.
As for Wei’s sale of substandard lard-based cooking oil, the Changhua District Court handed down a not-guilty ruling in November 2015. The prosecution has appealed that ruling.
Wei in 2014 resigned from his posts as chairman of Wei Chuan, Cheng I and Ting Hsin Oil and Fat.
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS