Concluding their probe into the "vultures" insider-trading scandal that has rocked the nation's financial community, Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted a former top financial regulator on corruption charges.
Prosecutors yesterday recommended an eight-year jail sentence for Lee Chin-chen (
Prosecutors further say that a note written by Lee also proves that he attempted to profit himself.
"Lee seriously damaged the government's image," Taipei District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Lin Pang-liang (
Lee was indicted for violating the Statute for the Punishment of Corruption (貪污治罪條例) and for offences against privacy (妨害祕密罪).
Lin Pang-liang said Lee leaked inside information to Lin Ming-da (
Lee released a statement after the indictment yesterday claiming that he is innocent, and went to work as usual.
Lee was transferred from his former post to serve as an FSC counselor after the scandal surfaced in July.
Taipei prosecutors first launched an investigation into PQI in January, after the company posted suspicious revenue figures for last year. Prosecutors say that while those anomalies were under investigation, Lee on March 11 told Lin that PQI's headquarters would soon be raided. Lin immediately borrowed substantial amount of money against PQI to sell it short.
On March 15, according to prosecutors, Lee also told a reporter surnamed Ko from the Chinese- language newspaper United Daily News that PQI's headquarters would be searched in one or two days. Ko's article, which was published the next day, sent the firm's share price down, and Lin made profits.
Prosecutors also said they found a note in Lin's office written by Lee on June 23, in which he asked Lin to borrow money against PQI's shares on his behalf.
That discovery prompted prosecutors to launch a probe into Lee himself.
But Lee, in his statement, says that the note he gave to Lin Ming-da in May was just part of the FSC's investigation into "vulture" groups that profit through insider trading.
The timing was after short sales in PQI were halted in April, and the note had nothing to do with the illegal trading, Lee said.
Three investors, Lin Ming-da, Chen Chun-chi (
Prosecutors said the five -- who became known in the media as the "vultures" -- made a total profit of about NT$15 million (US$444,000) from trading PQI's shares based on this information.
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