Addcn Technology Co (數字科技), the owner of several online trading platforms, yesterday cried foul at a legal move against its operations, arguing it was an Internet service provider whose innovative businesses stay ahead of the existing regulation.
“It is shocking and regrettable that prosecutors are treating the company as if we were fraudsters when all our transactions are above board and there is no victim,” Addcn general manager Ason Wu (吳聰賢) told a media briefing.
The company does not engage in any issuance of virtual currency, but has to create online accounts for individual customers and then put funds in the trust of a domestic bank to pay for future transactions, Wu said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
On Wednesday, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office decided to charge Wu and two other Addcn executives with illegal financial dealing.
Prosecutors said Addcn took NT$18.6 billion (US$620.7 million) in funds from the users of 8591.com, a platform which specializes in the trading of virtual products and credits for computer games, between 2009 and February last year.
Wu denied the company was involved in any wrongdoing, saying that the NT$18.6 billion had been put in a special trust account at E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) without generating any interest income as of March last year.
The special trust account was intended to guarantee the safety and smoothness of transactions, Wu said, adding that it was unfair for media outlets to portray the plan as a Ponzi scheme.
Wu compared his company toa China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) and US e-commerce site EBay Inc, for whose operations Taiwan has yet to draw up oversight regulations, meaning that legal issues in the market can be easily misunderstood.
The government should facilitate the legislation of third-party payment rules rather than seek to curb the company’s business with the Act Governing Issuance of Electronic Stored Value Cards (電子票證發行管理條例), he said.
The company draws its income from a 6-percent charge on individuals making sales on its trading platforms, Wu said.
Policymakers should be supervisors and assist efforts to boost the sector as Taiwanese firms have professional prowess and a good chance to tap e-commerce in the region, he said.
There is little else Addcn can say about the case as the company has yet to see the prosecution document, Wu said, adding that the company is confident it can win the case.
Apart from the online platform for game collectables, the New Taipei-based company also operates online trading platforms for real-estate information networks, cars and apparel.
Addcn chairman Liao Shi-fang (廖世芳) said the prosecution has not had negative impact on the company’s operations or financial standing. The company plans to press ahead with expansion in Southeast Asia, Liao added.
However, Addcn shares tumbled by the daily maximum limit of 7 percent to NT$365.5 on the GRETAI Securities Market yesterday, deeper than the over-the-counter index’s 0.18 percent fall.
PChome Online Inc chairman Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志) sympathized with Addcn, calling the Act Governing Issuance of Electronic Stored Value Cards an obsolete law that should be abolished.
“The whole controversy reflects Taiwan’s lagging status in e-commerce legislation and Addcn is the victim here,” Jan said.
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