Former Eastern Multimedia Group Chairman Gary Wang (王令麟) was taken back into custody yesterday on suspicion that he planned to abscond via Penghu.
A panel of judges at the Taipei District Court announced the decision to detain him when Wang, who had been free pending an appeal of his conviction for collaborating with his father in embezzling funds from the family’s Rebar Asia-Pacific Group, reported to the court as required yesterday.
The ruling said Wang’s detention was necessary to ensure that subsequent trials and his imprisonment went smoothly.
The Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau cited information that he was planning to sneak to Penghu and from there to China or Southeast Asia on a fishing boat.
Wang’s intention to escape was also supported by his large holding of assets abroad and the fact that his wife, Tsai Hsueh-ching (蔡雪卿), had already fled the country, the court said.
Wang was first taken into custody by prosecutors in June 2007 following the exposure of the Rebar Group’s financial woes. He was released in May last year on NT$350 million (US$10.45 million) bail, the highest in the country’s judicial history. On Dec. 31 last year, the district court sentenced Wang to 18 years in jail and fined him NT$700 million.
Following Wang’s detention yesterday, Taipei District Court Spokesman Chun-ming (黃俊明) said the court will return Wang’s bail money of NT$350 million.
Six of Wang’s siblings were also found guilty in the case for collaborating with their father — Rebar Group founder Wang You-theng (王又曾) — to loot funds from various subsidiaries.
Wang You-theng has remained on the run since he fled overseas in December 2006, soon after the Rebar Group applied for bankruptcy protection.
Aside from Wang and his siblings, another 116 individuals were convicted of various offenses in the court’s mammoth 4,000-page verdict.
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