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Former reporter guilty of blackmailing Terry Gou

A former reporter and her boyfriend were found guilty yesterday by the Taipei District Court of blackmailing Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) for US$1 million (NT$32.6 million).

The district court sentenced Tsang Chia-yi (臧家宜), a former reporter from Next magazine, to one year and 10 months in prison, and her boyfriend Huang Shang-ping (黃尚平) to two years.

Former reporter Yang Jen-kai (楊人凱), who assisted the duo with their blackmailing scheme, was sentenced to six months in jail. His sentence could be commuted to a fine.

The district court's ruling stated that the defendants had slandered Gou, damaging his reputation and that of his company, and that the trio had not shown any regret for their wrongdoing.

The district court said Tsang approached Gou last August, saying she would like to write a book about Gou and his company, the nation's largest electronics parts maker.

The district court said Tsang proposed writing the book, which was titled Burned by the Scorching Sun -- What You Don't Know About Terry Gou and sent Gou an outline for review on Sept. 20 last year.

But after reading the outline, Gou said he became concerned about the content.

Gou said that he found fault with Tsang's plan to include details of Hon Hai's alleged tax evasion in the US and China, as well as other alleged illegal activity.

Gou told the court he asked Tsang to refrain from writing the book, but Tsang and her boyfriend Huang demanded that Gou pay her US$1 million.

Gou reported the case to police last October and arranged a meeting between Hon Hai representatives and Tsang in order to hand her the money.

Police arrested Tsang last October when she took the money from a safety deposit box in a bank's VIP room, where she also signed a paper pledging to keep the whole incident confidential.

Gou told the court he had made tens of billions in charitable donations, and did not care about the US$1 million, but if there were people who could successfully blackmail upright businessmen, there would be no justice in the country.
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