Investigators yesterday questioned Taisun Foods & Marketing Co (欽泰國際) executives over allegations that the firm used forged business documents produced by shell companies in China to obtain loans totaling NT$4.4 billion (US$142.7 million) from 18 Taiwanese banks.
The executives — including chairman Chan Shun-chi (詹舜淇); his sister Chan Ya-lin (詹雅琳), who heads the finance department; their father, Chan Hsin-fu (詹信夫); and Fang Li-ting (方俐婷), a financial officer responsible for bank loan applications — face charges of forgery and contravening the Banking Act (銀行法), police said.
As of yesterday evening, the Taipei District Court had approved the detention of Chan Shun-chi and Chan Ya-lin with restricted communications, citing the evidence gathered against them and the likelihood of their colluding on testimony.
The firm is a subsidiary of Taisun Enterprise Co (泰山企業), a prominent food and beverage conglomerate based in Changhua County that owns well-known brands of bottled water, grass jelly drinks, cooking oil and desserts.
Chan Shun-chi, Chan Ya-lin and Chan Hsin-fu, who have been listed as suspects, are members of the extended Chan family that founded Taisun Enterprise in 1950 and has retained ownership and control of most of the conglomerate’s businesses and subsidiaries.
Taisun Enterprise in 1991 established Taisun Foods & Marketing to focus on international trade and reportedly holds an 18.9 percent stake in the subsidiary.
The executives took out loans of US$23 million from Taichung Commercial Bank, US$20 million from Hua Nan Commercial Bank and US$19 million from First Commercial Bank, the investigators said, adding that they also received smaller loans ranging from US$2 million to US$7 million from several other banks.
Chan Shun-chi allegedly registered Gaoli Co (高力) as a shell company in China and from 2014 colluded with Chinese firm Beijing Teamsun Technology Co (華勝天成) to forge purchase orders from Taisun Foods & Marketing to acquire letters of credit.
He then allegedly had Fang provide the letters of credit to Taiwanese banks when applying for loans, investigators said, adding that the forged purchase orders were also used by Taisun Foods & Marketing to issue letters of credit to Gaoli, which it used to secure its own loans.
Taisun Foods & Marketing was allegedly embroiled in a 2017 financial fraud case involving Beijing-based Potevio Co (中國普天) that left it with debts of about NT$1.7 billion, leaving Chan Shun-chi unable to pay back more than NT$1.4 billion in outstanding loans, which triggered a judicial probe, prosecutors said.
Taisun Enterprise yesterday issued a statement saying that Taisun Foods & Marketing is an independent firm with little effect on the finances operations of its parent.
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