The owner of Yu Shen Chemical Co (昱伸香料有限公司) and his wife were indicted yesterday by -Changhua prosecutors on suspicion of producing and selling potentially harmful food additives to food suppliers.
Changhua District Prosecutors Office spokesman Chen Te-fang (陳德芳) told a press conference in the afternoon that Lai Chun-chieh (賴俊傑), the owner of Yu Shen Chemical Co, and his wife, Chien Ling-yuan (簡玲媛), were charged with violations to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) and fraud.
Prosecutors requested a 25-year sentence and a fine of NT$10 million (US$300,000) for Lai and 20 years and a fine of NT$7 million for Chien.
ADDITIONAL FINE
An additional request was made for a fine of NT$200 million against Yu Shen Chemical Co, the spokesman said.
Chen said that Chien Chun-huan (簡鈞恒), the brother of Chien Ling-yuan, who was Yu Shen’s plant manager, was indicted on the same charges, with prosecutors asking for a 20-year sentence and a fine of NT$7 million.
Pan Shu-lan (潘淑蘭), the owner of Ching-tung Co (金童企業公司), which sold di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) to Yu Shen, was indicted on the same charges and a 15-year sentence and a fine of NT$5 million is being sought. Prosecutors also requested a fine of NT$100 million against Ching-tung.
Chen said Lai and Yu Shen Chemical Co had apparently been selling tainted food additives since 1996, supplying 16 suppliers with more than 102 tonnes of tainted products valued at NT$9.6 million in more than 458 separate transactions.
“Their crimes jeopardized public health, caused panic, had an impact on social order and harmed the nation’s international image,” Chen said.
Prosecutors believe Lai and the other defendants have displayed insufficient regret for the offences of which they are accused and have still failed to offer a full -account of their business practices. As a result, prosecutors believed a 25-year sentence was appropriate for Lai, Chen said.
COWORKERS
Lai and Pan used to work for the same company 20 years ago, and continued to do business with each other after establishing their own firms, Chen said.
Yu Shen was discovered to have used DEHP in clouding agents and sold it to food processors that manufactured foodstuffs, beverages, medicine and cosmetics, Changhua prosecutors said.
Lai has also admitted that seven jam, bread and pastry businesses in Taiwan were also major buyers of Yu Shen plasticizer-tainted food, prosecutors said.
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