Police arrested six current and former employees of German chemical maker BASF SE for allegedly leaking the company’s technology to a Chinese rival, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday.
The technology, used to produce high-purity ammonia for semiconductor applications, is estimated to have a market value of NT$3.52 billion (US$114.2 million), the bureau said, adding that the Chinese company allegedly agreed to pay approximately NT$200 million for the information.
The bureau early last year received a report that senior employees at a Taiwanese subsidiary of BASF are allegedly involved in intellectual property theft, Seventh Investigation Unit captain Lu Sung-hao (呂松浩) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Bureau investigators found that a Chinese chemicals company was planning a factory in Jiangsu Province’s Zhenjiang City, police said.
To compete with BASF, the Chinese company hired a former BASF employee, surnamed Lin (林), who oversaw a factory in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音), paying him more than NT$410,000 per month since 2017, police said.
Lin recruited several engineers, who resigned from BASF at different times to join the Chinese firm, and a senior manager surnamed Huang (黃), who remained at BASF to continue providing information, police said.
Huang is said to be the head of BASF’s global electronic materials and engineering department, and oversaw the engineering departments at the subsidiary, police said.
Key evidence of the leak was found in October and November, with overseas bank accounts of the six showing that they had received a combined NT$40 million from the Chinese company, police said.
Police arrested Huang and five engineers who returned to Taiwan on Dec. 31 for alleged breaches of the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法), they said.
BASF’s key technology has already been leaked to the Chinese company, police said.
BASF said in a statement that it was aware of the investigation and the employees involved had been suspended from work.
“We have taken immediate steps to support the investigation led by local law enforcement officials and protected our information,” it said.
“BASF is committed to investing in and protecting intellectual property resulting from research and development, as well as production of know-how both by BASF and our customers. To this end we have established systems and policies which minimize risks,” it said.
“In light of this situation, we will further reinforce these information protection systems,” it said.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS