Thu, Jul 19, 2001 page1

• Court temporarily detains head of Asiaworld Group

  • By Irene Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  Chairwoman of the Asiaworld Internationale Group Emilia Roxas (鄭綿綿) was detained for seven hours by the Taipei District Court yesterday for delaying repayments to two banks, to which the group owes nearly NT$1 billion.

  Roxas, who was once referred to as the richest woman in Asia, was called to a hearing before Judge Cheng Li-yen (鄭麗燕) of the court's execution division yesterday morning. She had to state her reasons for delaying repayments on NT$400 million in debt owed to the Chung Shing Commercial Bank (中興銀行) and over NT$500 million to the Asia Pacific Bank (亞太商銀).

  During the hearing the judge questioned the financial condition of the group, which has a total asset value of around NT$80 billion, and asked why repayments to the two banks had been canceled.

  Despite her arguments that the group did not dodge the repayments, the judge ordered Roxas to be detained until she offered at least NT$3 million as a security deposit to the court.

  Before she entered the courtroom, Roxas said she felt unsure as to why the judge had decided to call the session. Asiaworld Internationale has been negotiating with the two banks in question and some 20 other banks on debt repayments, she said.

  She said the group currently has outstanding loans of NT$25 billion.

  The judge said Roxas had assured a court hearing in June that her group could repay the debts monthly with rent collected from tenant stores on the ground and first floors of the Asiaworld Department Store located in Eastern Taipei. The court back then issued an order preventing Asiaworld from using the rental income for other purposes.

  However, Judge Cheng said she had discovered the group had not forwarded income from those tenants to repay its debts as it had promised to.

  Roxas' lawyer, John Chou (周燦雄), argued that the rental payments the court referred to were collected before March and were thus not subject to the court order given later in June.

  The lawyer added that the group had in fact used the rental income to repay debts to banks other than the two in this case.

  However, the judge decided that Roxas was not honest about the financial condition of the group and ordered her to be detained until the group provided at least NT$3 million in cash to the court as a security deposit.

  Roxas was sent to a detention room in the court around 11:30am. Ching Kao (荊皋), chairman of the Asiaworld Department Store, submitted the NT$3.5 million in cash to the court around 3:30pm.

  However, Roxas was not released until 6:30pm when the judge finally returned to the courthouse after an absence for the afternoon.

  The judge reasoned that Roxas could be released as she has given assurances that her group will repay the debts in question.

  Roxas also said she would meet with the banks next week to discuss a schedule for debt repayments, the judge said.

  Asiaworld Internationale entered the Taiwan market in late 1970 following Taiwan's withdrawal from the UN. The group then made huge profits from investing heavily in real estate. It subsequently developed a department store, brokerage, and hotel.
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