UMC head named in case

"We have to give the defendants a chance to speak for themselves in the investigations, so if the need arises, we will subpoena [Tsao] and [Hsuan]."

Tsai Ten-yuan, Hsinchu District Prosecutors' Office spokesman

The Hsinchu District Prosecutors' Office has named the top executive at leading chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) as a defendant in a case probing the company's alleged illegal investments in China, according to Chinese-language daily the Liberty Times, the sister paper of the Taipei Times.

UMC chairman Robert Tsao (曹興誠) and vice chairman John Hsuan (宣明智) are slated to be subpoenaed for interrogation, but an exact date has yet to be set, Hsinchu District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Tsai Ten-yuan (蔡添源) confirmed in the report.

"We have to give the defendants a chance to speak for themselves in the investigations, so if the need arises, we will subpoena [Tsao] and [Hsuan]" Tsai told reporters yesterday.

In addition to Tsao and Hsuan, 23 others have also been identified as defendants in the case, Tsai said.

UMC, the world's No. 2 contract chipmaker, is suspected of illegally investing in, transferring technology to, or exchanging engineers with Chinese semiconductor start-up He Jian Technology Co (和艦) in Suzhou. The government restricts chipmakers' investments in China and requires that companies apply for permission before going ahead with such projects.

More than 180 investigators searched the homes and offices of UMC vice chairman John Hsuan (宣明智) and He Jian chairman Hsu Chien-hwa (徐建華) last month, and confiscated a large amount of account information and digital data. Hsu had been previously detained by prosecutors before being released on bail of NT$10 million.

"In general, we will seek evidence first before contacting involved individuals," Tsai said.

Prosecutors began another round of interrogations on Wednesday and have so far summoned five engineers from He Jian for questioning. They were slated to summon another two yesterday.

UMC, however, told the Liberty Times that it was not aware that Tsao had been formally listed as a defendant in the case but that it would respect the prosecutors' investigation. It further stated that whether an employee had quit UMC to join He Jian was the employee's choice. He Jian was founded in 2001 by former UMC employees, including Hsu.

According to the report, Tsao was not listed as a defendant in the case until Feb. 25 when stockholders filed a civil suit against him and Hsu on charges of breach of trust. The prosecutor's office had subsequently combined the two cases against Tsao and put him on the list of defendants in the case. Hsu and Hsuan were on the prosecutors' original list of defendants.

Tsao has denied any legal wrongdoing in the matter, saying UMC never illegally transferred capital, technology or human resources to He Jian.