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Taipei prosecutors probe FAT scandal

Taipei prosecutors said yesterday they are investigating a scandal involving financially strapped Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT, 遠東航空) officials who were suspected of bribing Chinese officials to win route rights in China.

Prosecutors said yesterday that Lou Wen-hao (樓文豪), an official of the Taiwan branch of Cambodia’s Angkor Airways Corp, told prosecutors that he had represented FAT officials in wiring around NT$175 million (US$5.7 million) to Chinese aviation authority officials, hoping they could help FAT to win rights at an airport in Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, and an airport in Tsingtao in Shandong Province.

Prosecutors said they are looking for a man suspected of contacting Chinese officials to facilitate the matter, adding that the case is tough because they are unlikely to interview any Chinese officials who checked their accounts.

Prosecutors discovered the scandal as they probed FAT officials over their alleged involvement in an embezzlement scandal.

Lou, former FAT chairman Stephen Tsui (崔湧) and former FAT president Philip Chen (陳尚群) have been detained since late April on suspicion of embezzling NT$2 billion from the airline, throwing the company into a financial crisis.

Prosecutors said they were probing the whereabouts of the missing funds when Lou told them that part of the money might have been used to bribe Chinese officials.
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