The Taiwan High Court yesterday dismissed charges against Robert Tsao (曹興誠), former chairman of United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), for allegedly helping the Taiwanese company invest in China.
The court also found former UMC vice chairman John Hsuan (宣明智) and Cheng Tun-chien (鄭敦謙), head of Fortune Venture Capital Corp (宏誠創投), a UMC affiliate, not guilty
The three were indicted on charges of breach of trust and violating the Business Accounting Law (商業會計法) by helping UMC, the world’s second-biggest contract chipmaker, invest in China’s He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co (和艦科技) without obtaining shareholders’ approval.
The high court said that the ruling is a final verdict for the charge of breach of trust against the three, but prosecutors are able to appeal the charge of violating the Business Accounting Law (商業會計法) to the Supreme Court.
Hsinchu prosecutors said they have not decided whether or not to bring the case to the Supreme Court.
The high court said in the ruling there was insufficient evidence that the defendants supplied He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co with UMC personnel, patents and trade secrets or helped it raise funds using UMC resources.
The ruling added that the prosecution failed to offer evidence of how much money or interest UMC lost by helping He Jian, and therefore the defendants did not commit breach of trust.
The Hsinchu District Court found the three not guilty in December 2007.
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