Three Capital Investment Trust Corp (群益證券投資信託) employees were yesterday released on bail after being questioned over their suspected connection to a corruption investigation involving Ministry of Labor official Yu Nai-wen (游迺文).
Hsieh Chih-ying (謝志英), vice president of Capital Investment Trust’s assets management division, fund manager surnamed Lin (林) and analyst surnamed Tang (湯) were released on bail after being questioned overnight, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Yu, head of the domestic investment division of the ministry’s Bureau of Labor Funds, was removed from his post on Sept. 18 pending an investigation.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
He has been detained since Nov. 27 for allegedly taking bribes from PJ Asset Management (寶佳資產管理) CEO Daniel Tarng (唐楚烈) and others in return for using his authority to allocate money from the Labor Insurance Fund to manipulate the stock price of Far Eastern Department Stores Ltd (遠東百貨).
Yesterday, prosecutors said that they suspect Hsieh, Lin and Tang participated in the alleged stock manipulation, but because Capital owned fewer Far Eastern shares, they are considered minor suspects compared with employees of Uni-President Investment Trust Corp (統一證券投資信託) and Fuh Hwa Investment Trust Co (復華證券投資信託), who are also under investigation.
Those being held without bail are Yu, Tarng, Fuh Hwa executive Chiu Yu-yuan (邱裕元), and Uni-President Investment chief investment officer Chiu Ming-chiang (邱明強) and asset manager Liu Chien-hsien (劉建賢).
On Thursday, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said that it began a special examination of some investment trust firms, including Capital, after alleged involvement with Yu.
Late on Thursday, the Financial Examination Bureau sent an inspection team to Capital’s headquarters in Taipei, Director-General Wang Li-chuan (王儷娟) told reporters by telephone.
The bureau would examine several investment firms, including Uni-President, Wang said, adding that an examination last year found that the firms had operational issues.
“This time, we will see if they have improved and we will focus on their internal controls, management of their trading rooms, regulations regarding employees’ cellphones or other communication devices, and the measures they take to prevent conflicts of interest,” she said.
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