Taipei prosecutors said yesterday an organization had offered the wreckage of a number of rockets to prosecutors to help pay the fine of former Taiwan Pineapple Corp chairman Huang Tsung-hung (黃宗宏), who was convicted of misappropriating Chung Hsing Commercial Bank funds.
Huang, arrested in Keelung in November 2007 while attempting to flee the country by boat, is serving time at Taipei Prison.
Taipei District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Wang Wen-te (王文德) said Huang could not afford to pay the NT$100 million (US$3 million) fine, but an organization had contacted his bureau, saying it possessed rocket wreckage that could be seized by prosecutors to help pay off Huang's fine.
Wang said prosecutors had commissioned experts to examine the wreckage, but he refused to name the organization involved.
He said it was a space research organization that had bought the wreckage from Japan. The wreckage is on a farm in southern Taiwan and under heavy security, he said.
Wang also denied media speculation that prosecutors might release Huang on parole after he pays the fine.
Paying a fine and parole are unrelated, Wang said.
The spokesman said Huang's family had also offered more than 600 pieces from his antique collection to prosecutors and they are being examined by professionals to assess their value.
Some pieces from Huang's collection might be national treasures, prosecutors have said.
Huang was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison in October 2007 for misuse of the bank's fund. He is believed to be close to several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians. In 2004 Huang said he had twice provided political donations to then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰). Lien denied receiving the donations.
Wang Yu-yun (王玉雲), former president of Chung Hsing Bank, received a seven-year sentence in the same case in April 2007.
Prosecutors said Wang fled to China after being sentenced. He was reported to have died in China last year.
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