The Taipei District Court yesterday released the chairman of Eastern Multimedia Group (EMG) Gary Wang (王令麟) on bail of NT$350 million (US$11.5 million), the highest figure in the country’s judicial history.
Wang’s family took around five hours to collect the sum after the figure was announced earlier yesterday.
Wang’s lawyer Chi Jeen-nan (紀鎮南) told reporters after the hearing yesterday morning that he appreciated the court’s decision to free Wang.
He said the court had prohibited Wang from moving from his current residence, asked him to report to a police station near his residence every evening and prohibited him from discussing the case with other defendants after he is released.
Chi said he believed Wang would follow the rules.
Chi said that prosecutors have already prohibited Wang from leaving the country.
But Taipei prosecutors yesterday immediately lodged an appeal with the Taiwan High Court, asking it to order the district court to reverse the decision to release Wang.
Prosecutors have claimed that Wang made illegal profits from the sale of a majority stake in Eastern Multimedia to the US-based Carlyle Group.
They said Wang bought the cable operator’s shares before the sale to Carlyle was announced and later profited from selling them at a higher price to the equity firm.
The sale, in April last year, was valued at US$1.3 billion.
Wang also embezzled NT$17.48 billion from Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (亞太固網), a local fixed-line operator and a subsidiary of the Eastern Multimedia Group, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also suspect Wang embezzled NT$3.59 billion from the sale of one of the group’s properties to Union Insurance Co (友聯產險).
Gary Wang is the son of Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團) founder Wang You-theng (王又曾), who is suspected of having embezzled billions of dollars in corporate funds from the group before fleeing with his wife to China in late 2006 and then to the US in January last year.
Taiwanese authorities placed the couple on the country’s most-wanted list on Jan. 15 last year and have been seeking assistance from the US to have them repatriated.
Gary Wang, Wang You-theng, members of the Wang family and Gary Wang’s associates are suspected of embezzling a total of NT$41.2 billion from the Rebar Group.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS