Prosecutors said yesterday they will appeal a local court’s decision to acquit 30 suspects in the so-called Catch Power business scam, a failed shopping platform using “smart lockers” that were installed at Taipei MRT stations.
Three key individuals in the case have fled to China, after allegedly pocketing NT$18.8 billion (US$616.81 million) of investors’ money.
The ruling was made on Thursday, when the Chiayi District Court acquitted the 30 suspects, who had been charged with illegally procuring investments and earning profits on the invested money, in contravention of the Banking Act (銀行法).
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The court said there was insufficient evidence to prove that the 30 suspects had colluded with the three main organizers of the scam.
About 500 investors, who had formed victims’ self-help associations and invested billions into what they believed was a legitimate business, awaited the ruling.
Investigators identified three main organizers: Catch Power president Sun Yueh-tse (孫岳澤) and his wife, Lee Hsin-chieh (李欣潔), along with company board member Wang Mu-sheng (王木生).
Chiayi prosecutors said they will appeal Thursday’s ruling by submitting more evidence gathered during the investigation.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) partnered with the online shopping platform, which offered delivery services for food and other items that could be paid for online. The “smart lockers” were advertised as being able to store refrigerated and frozen goods and began to appear inside Taipei MRT stations from about September 2016.
TRTC officials said at the time that Catch Power would eventually install lockers at all Taipei MRT stations, but the company started to have financial issues.
The judiciary began the investigation in March 2017, and Catch Power units were removed from MRT stations.
During that time, investigators also discovered that Sun, Lee and Wang took a flight to Hong Kong and then headed to China, where they are reportedly still residing.
They are listed as wanted by Taiwan’s judiciary and are among the suspects charged in the case. However, as they fled to China and did not face prosecution in the nation, the acquittal only applies to the 30 suspects who were tried.
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