Former Eastern Multimedia chairman Gary Wang (王令麟) yesterday denied any wrongdoing during a pre-trial hearing on embezzlement charges relating to the Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團).
Wang, along with five of his siblings, was convicted by the district court of embezzlement on Dec. 31. He faces 18 years in jail and a fine of NT$700 million (US$20 million). Yesterday was the first pre-trial hearing held at the Taiwan High Court after the family filed an appeal.
Wang and the other members of the Rebar Group family refused to answer reporters' questions when they appeared at the courthouse yesterday.
Wang and his siblings pleaded not guilty, saying they were not to blame for the embezzlement scandal because they were not in charge of managing the company's finances.
The six offspring of Wang You-theng (王又曾), the fugitive founder of the Rebar Asia Pacific Group, are accused of embezzling NT$42.7 billion from various subsidiaries of the Rebar Group and had played major roles in the scheme.
Gary Wang was first taken into custody in June 2007 following the exposure of the Rebar Group's financial woes.
He was released in May last year on NT$350 million bail.
He was detained for a second time after a short hearing on Jan. 21, which came after the Bureau of Investigation said it had received a tip that he was planning to flee the country via Penghu.
Since Feb. 11, when he was released again on bail, he and his siblings are required to report to thes local police department every night between 7pm to 9pm. That time frame was recently expanded to 6pm to 11pm.
The high court had summoned more than 50 defendants to appear in pre-trial hearings yesterday and today.
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