Leading water heater manufacturer Taiwan Sakura Corp (台灣櫻花) is offering free general security inspections following a government investigation that concluded that its supplier, Tonlin Industrial Co (統領工業), sold substandard exhaust pipes that are prone to corrosion and toxic leaks.
According to an investigation by the Ministry of Justice Bureau of Investigation’s New Taipei City branch, Tonlin, based in Tucheng District (土城), had sold 670,000 made-in-China substandard pipes to several well-known water heater companies in Taiwan — including Taiwan Sakura — and made more than NT$100 million (US$3.2 million) in illegal gains.
Government regulations state that only standard 304-type stainless steel pipes be used as water heater exhaust pipes to prevent corrosion and carbon monoxide leaks. Tonlin is suspected of substituting them with imports of substandard 202-type pipes from China.
Photo: Wen Yu-teh, Taipei Times
The bureau’s New Taipei City branch said that type 202 pipes’ heat-resistant nickel content is 4.5 to 9 percent lower, their chromium content is 1 percent lower, while their manganese content is 6 percent higher compared with standard pipes. Exposure to constant humidity and dampness will eventually corrode the pipes and cause toxic leaks, it said.
The branch office confiscated 20,000 pipes from Tonlin and detained two brothers in charge of the company — president Chang Chin-fa (張金發) and CEO Chang Min-te (張敏德) — for questioning. The two were released early on Wednesday morning.
The brothers are potential suspects and would be prosecuted on charges of fraud if authorities uncover more evidence, the office said, adding that it was still investigating potential money laundering activities.
Taiwan Sakura said it had bought 6,250 pipes from Tonlin, but the pipes were used on less popular models, which account for a mere 0.003 percent of its products on the market.
The company said that it conducts regular inspections of its products as well as asking a third party to inspect them. The last inspection was carried out in November 2012 and almost all pipes were confirmed to be type-304 stainless steel ones.
The company encouraged users of the following models — SH2470, SH2420, SH1688, SH1680 and SH1288 — to call its customer service hotline to arrange for a security inspection.
Topax (莊頭北熱水器), another firm affected by the incident, said it would suspend use of materials bought from Tonlin until further notice, adding that consumers who bought any of the affected models can bring them in and exchange them for free.
Topax said it reserved the right to sue Tonlin for reparations, but was holding off on a final decision due to conflicting information from Tonlin and the bureau’s New Taipei City office.
Topax said only one of its models, the TH-7121, used pipes from Tonlin since the mandatory use of 304-type pipes was instituted in 2006.
Additional reporting by Wen Yu-te, Huang Pei-chun,
Lee Chung-hsien and Chiu Shao-wen
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS