Prosecutors in Chiayi yesterday charged two leaders of the Ho Ming-teh Charitable Group for allegedly misappropriating nearly NT$700 million (US$25.01 million) from donations over 18 years.
The organization was founded in memory of engineer Ho Ming-teh (何明德), who from 1965 led a volunteer movement to build bridges and pave roads in remote areas of Chiayi, Yunlin and Tainan counties.
Originally an informal collection of volunteers and donors, Ho later adopted the name Chiayi Philanthropy Group after the moniker was given to his initiative by Chinese-language newspapers.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times
Ho in 1995 earned a Ramon Magsaysay Award in Community Leadership from the Philippines for “improving rural Taiwan with good deeds and sturdy bridges.”
The award panel praised Ho’s scrupulous bookkeeping, earning the group “a reputation for unshakable integrity.”
Ho’s eldest daughter, surnamed Chen (陳), in 2002 established the Ho Ming-teh Charitable Group with her husband, surnamed Hsiao (蕭), in memory of her father, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Under the premise of continuing her father’s legacy, Chen and Hsiao solicited donations online, including through Facebook, for the unregistered organization, they said.
Prosecutors said that Chen and Hsiao garnered NT$1.42 billion in donations from 2002 to last year.
From 2002 to March, they had allegedly used NT$720 million on bridge construction and other philanthropic works, with NT$5.99 million left in an account, prosecutors said.
The remaining NT$695.71 million was allegedly used to purchase financial investments, high-value insurance and real estate, they said.
To conceal the source of the funds, they allegedly made the majority of the investments in their own names and those of their family members, contravening the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and embezzlement provisions of the Criminal Code, prosecutors said, adding that NT$693.06 million has been seized.
As Chen and Hsiao took advantage of donors’ goodwill and diverted funds meant for the public good to investments obviously contrary to their intended use, prosecutors recommended a heavy punishment to deter potential copycat offenders.
Chen and Hsiao denied the charges, saying that they kept the donations in private accounts as they did not register the organization and therefore could not open a dedicated account, prosecutors said.
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