Former ING Securities Investment and Trust Co (ING SITC) vice president Sam Hsieh (謝青良), who was accused of using the government’s Labor Insurance Fund and Labor Pension Fund to manipulate share prices, was yesterday indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on a breach of trust charge.
Hsieh was released on NT$2 million (US$68,600) bail during the investigation.
The office said about NT$8.8 million was seized from Hsieh’s accounts.
Hsieh was accused of manipulating the share price of Ablerex Electronics Co in 2010 and selling his stock in the company to two funds entrusted by the government to his company for stock investment, the office said.
Hsieh was accused of buying 50,000 shares of Ablerex at a price of NT$80 per share in June 2010. The company went public on Sept. 9 of that year via an initial public offering and its stock price peaked at NT$546 on Sept. 17, it added.
Hsieh allegedly used the government’s Labor Insurance Fund and Labor Pension Fund to buy 600,000 shares, while selling off his shares and those belonging to people with whom he allegedly was in collusion.
The office said Ablerex’s stock price then began a sharp slide and Hsieh sold the government’s stake in Ablerex on Oct. 6, 2010, at a price of NT$300 per share.
The transactions resulted in a huge loss for the government, according to the reports.
When the scandal came to light earlier this month, ING SITC fired Hsieh and agreed to compensate the government for its losses.
The prosecutors summoned Hsieh after learning that he had already remitted NT$40 million to a Hong Kong bank account and intervened to stop him from wiring another US$500,000 there, as well as imposing a travel ban on him.
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