Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒), former vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co, has been prohibited from leaving the country, as the presiding judge in a pre-trial court hearing on Wednesday said Koo was a suspect in a serious case and considered a flight risk.
Koo attended the pre-trial hearing at the Taipei District Court to face questioning on charges of violating the Securities Exchange Act (證券交易法) and the Banking Law (銀行法) when he gave the directive for the acquisition of Mega Financial Holding Co through a Hong Kong branch of Chinatrust in 2004.
The Taipei District Court prosecutors’ office in 2006 twice summoned Koo regarding suspected irregularities in the deal, but the banker failed to show up in court and left Taiwan in September 2006.
Koo stayed abroad for almost two years after the court put him on a wanted list in December 2006.
He returned to Taipei in November 2008 when prosecutors were investigating alleged corruption and bribery involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and several bankers.
At the pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, Koo denied all the allegations, insisting that the purchase of Mega Financial shares was purely an investment matter.
When the judge issued the travel ban, Koo pleaded for leniency, saying that he has a sick wife in the US and one of his two children in Japan is autistic.
However, the presiding judge said that financial crimes are considered severe offenses and the penalty could be a jail term of no less than five years.
Koo, with his previous record of dodging a court order, might attempt to run again and should be restricted from leaving country, the judge said.
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