Key Zanadau suspects out on bail

Four key suspects in the Zanadau Development Corp scandal were released Saturday on bail one day after being indicted on charges of fraud and corruption.

Hsieh Sheng-fu (謝生富), a former chairman of the state-owned Taiwan Fertilizer Co (台肥), and Lawson Corp President Lee Ming-che (李明哲) were released on bail of NT$20 million each, while Su Hui-jen (蘇惠珍), a Zanadau co-founder, and Lin Chi-jui (林琦瑞), former Kaohsiung County Government Public Works Bureau chief, were released on bail of NT$2 million each.

The Taipei District Court agreed to the four key suspects' release on bail after an overnight hearing.

Su, who was charged with violating the Securities Exchange Law (証券交易法) and the Banking Law (銀行法), as well as with forgery and breach of trust, said after her release that she is convinced that the courts will eventually clear her name.

Taipei prosecutors have requested a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Su on charges that Su had used Zanadau's money for private purposes and illegally manipulated the company's stocks as its vice president.

Su said she is scheduled to publish a book late this month on the Zanadau's botched project to build a shopping mall on a large piece of cheap farmland in Hunei in the Kaohsiung County in 1997.

According to the prosecution, the Zanadau development project scandal can be traced back to Su's procurement of the Hunei farmland. After Su purchased the land for NT$400 million, she invited Yu Chen Yueh-ying (余陳月瑛), a former Kaohsiung County magistrate whose family has extensive political connections, to serve as one of the Zanadau's representatives in order to attract investors to the development project.

Yu Chen was also indicted on Friday for allegedly manipulating Zanadau's stocks as the company's president in 1998. Prosecutors asked for a three-year sentence for Yu Chen who resigned as a senior adviser to the president after learning of her indictment.

Eight other suspects were also indicted for involvement in the snowballing Zanadau development scandal. Taipei chief prosecutor Lin Chin-tsun (林錦村) said the investigation into the case will continue and that seven other suspects, including China Development Financial Holding Corp Chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英), may be prosecuted later. Liu has been held incommunicado since last Monday, pending investigation.