Consumer rights groups and members of the public yesterday criticized a ruling by the Changhua District Court to commute a prison term given to former Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新) chairman Wei Ying-chung (魏應充) to a fine.
The court on Thursday sentenced Wei to three years in prison on charges of tax evasion, which arose during an investigation into a series of tainted food scandals in 2013 and 2014, but the judge commuted the sentence into a fine of NT$3.3 million (US$107,667), or a fine of NT$3,000 per day in lieu of serving his sentence.
The court sentenced the company’s accountant Chen Hsi-hsun (陳錫勳) to 22 months in prison, which can be commuted into a fine of NT$1,000 per day.
Ting Hsin failed to issue uniform invoices for sales of goods worth NT$732 million between January 2006 and December 2013 in an attempt to evade taxes, Changhua district prosecutors said.
New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said Wei is not only a repeat offender of tax evasion, but “he is also a vile businessman who has total disregard for the health and lives of many consumers. The court only gave him a little more than a NT$3 million fine, which is not much money for him. Can this ruling restore law and order to society?”
Wei’s tax evasion activities were only discovered during the probe into the tainted food scandals, Green Formosa Front director Lin Chang-mao (林長茂) said.
“If it was not for the investigation, his tax evasion activities might still be going on, but he can escape punishment with a fine of a few million New Taiwan dollars. This shows that Taiwan’s justice system is dead,” Lin said.
Most punishments for tax evasion are not heavy, Consumer Foundation chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said. “However, this ruling does not conform to the expectations of the public. Many people cannot accept this decision.”
A netizen surnamed Chan (詹) wrote that he and his friends are angry at the ruling because the memory of the food scandals is still fresh in their minds.
“It is good to be rich and politically connected in Taiwan, because the judiciary will not punish you too hard, but will give out severe punishments to ordinary people,” another netizen wrote.
Additional reporting by CNA
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