New Taipei City-based Carry Hi-tech Co (加利科技) was ordered shuttered and owner Lin Ming-chin (林明進) listed as a suspect after the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau (MJIB) yesterday broadened a probe into alleged sales of non-medical grade masks from China through the government’s mask rationing program.
The bureau said that Lin could be charged with fraud and breaches of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) for allegedly importing non-medical-grade masks manufactured in China and repackaging them with “Made in Taiwan” labels.
On Wednesday, a pharmacist in New Taipei City found that masks shipped from Carry Hi-tech had a “Made in Anhui” package label in simplified Chinese and reported the finding to the New Taipei City Pharmacists’ Association, which then notified the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Photo: CNA
Last month, Lin allegedly imported 3.37 million of the masks, investigators said, citing health authority records.
In March, he imported 20,000 of the masks, but the shipment was confiscated, as they were falsely labeled “Made in Taiwan.” The masks as of yesterday were still in a customs warehouse at the Port of Keelung.
Chinese-language media have reported that Lin invested US$1.5 million in Tian Rui Non-Woven Fabric Co (天瑞無紡布公司) in China’s Jiangsu Province and is a partner in Anhui Anjingrui Nonwoven Products Co (安徽安景瑞無紡布製品公司) in Anhui Province.
Other local firms could be repackaging China-made masks as “Made in Taiwan,” so local prosecutors, MJIB units and health authorities are to conduct a thorough investigation, Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said yesterday.
Lin late on Thursday defended his actions to the media, accusing officials of overburdening his firm with steep production quotas.
When two local manufacturers failed to meet their mask quotas, forcing smaller firms like his to pick up the slack, he asked a colleague in China to help him produce additional masks.
However, Lin said that the masks were “industrial grade,” an even higher level of protection than the medical-grade masks used in Taiwan.
Lin added that he had felt proud to join the “national team” of mask manufacturers, but later regretted the toll it took on his employees.
“I already told the FDA, kick Carry Hi-tech off the national team,” Lin said. “Let me give my employees a rest.”
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday denied that the firm was under undue pressure, saying that the government is looking at additional ways to prevent counterfeit labeling.
From Jan. 31 to June 1, when the government requisitioned masks from local firms, the nation’s daily production capacity increased from 1.88 million to 20 million masks.
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