Taipei prosecutors yesterday appealed a decision by the Taipei District Court to release four former top officials from Taiwan Styrene Monomer Corp on bail, saying they must be detained again.
Taipei prosecutors on Friday filed a request with the Taipei District Court for the detention of the company’s former chairman, Chang Chung-chien (張鍾潛); his successor, Liu Cheng-yuan (劉正元); former vice general manager of finance Su Jia-ping (蘇嘉屏); his successor, Chen Ming-te (陳明得); and the head of a stock investment group, Sun Tieh-han (孫鐵漢).
The district court early yesterday morning ruled that Chang and Liu each be released on NT$10 million (US$330,000) bail, Su on NT$8 million, Chen on NT$2 million and Sun on NT$30 million.
Photo: CNA
Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office spokesman Huang Mo-hsin (黃謀信) said prosecutors immediately filed an appeal with the Taiwan High Court against the ruling, saying the suspects were charged with violating securities transaction regulations — crimes that carry a minimum sentence of five years in prison — and that they are likely to collude on their testimonies if they are free to communicate with each other.
Chang and the other four posted their bails and were released yesterday evening.
Prosecutors said they were suspected of embezzling more than NT$1 billion from the nation’s largest maker of styrene monomer products.
Taiwan Styrene Monomer Corp is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
According to prosecutors, officials at the Taiwan Stock Exchange detected several suspicious dealings during an audit in 2011, including false transactions and unusual investments.
Prosecutors said that one of the irregular dealings occurred in January last year, when the company paid more than NT$200 million over the market price to acquire Yangmingshan Tienlai Spa Hotel, incurring huge losses.
Chang was vice minister of economics and chairman of Taiwan Power Co before serving as chairman of Taiwan Styrene Monomer Corp for 13 years.
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