The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced a former official at the Taiwan branch of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) to two years and 10 months in prison for defrauding the bank of more than US$1 million.
The court found that Chen Pai-jui (
In 1997, on Chen's recommendation, Huang opened a margin trading account.
The court found that Chen had tampered with the bank's computer records for Huang's account between 1997 and 1998 to reap illegal profits, which were then divided by the two.
In one instance in June 1997, the bank manager altered the amount of collateral in Huang's account to artificially expand his credit limit. The change caused the bank a loss of more than US$880,000.
Moreover, the court found Chen had changed interest rates on Huang's margin loans, which cost the bank an additional US$270,000.
In June 1998, during a regular audit of customer accounts and bank records Chen's colleagues at BNP discovered the fraud and reported the matter to police.
Huang was sentenced to two years and six months in jail for his part in the fraud. The BNP is seeking compensation of an undisclosed amount from the two defendants in separate civil suits.
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