Taipei prosecutors yesterday questioned former China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) in a bid to gain information on Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) financial situation and alleged irregularities in the bank’s purchase of THSRC shares 13 years ago.
Liu is serving a 22-month jail sentence for breach of trust.
His China High Speed Rail Corp in 1997 lost out to THSRC in bidding to build the nation’s high-speed rail system. Liu then claimed that the THSRC may have financial problems.
Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Wang Wen-te (王文德) yesterday said Liu’s questioning was part of efforts to discover whether he had inside information about THSRC’s financial situation and other alleged irregularities.
Taipei prosecutors also questioned two former bank presidents as part of their investigation, probing whether there were any irregularities in the purchase of THSRC special shares in 2002 and 2005.
The Ministry of Finance in 2002 amended financial regulations giving the nation’s eight banks the legal means to buy THSRC special shares in 2002 and 2005. The purchases were meant to prop up the financially troubled THSRC.
Wang said prosecutors were trying to determine whether the amendment and the share purchases were legal, adding that they may have involved breach of trust.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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