Former Chung Shing Bank general manager Wang Hsuan-jen (王宣仁) was sentenced yesterday in a final verdict for his role in an illegal loan scandal.
Wang, who fled to China in May 2007 after being sentenced for a separate illegal loan case, was repatriated in February 2008 to serve a sentence of six years and eight months in jail from that earlier case.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday sentenced Wang to an additional one year and 10 months in jail, while Chang Chao-hsiang (張朝翔), former chief executive of Panvest, a landscape design company, was sentenced to one year and eight months in the same case.
According to the ruling, in 1998 the bank’s vice chairman, Wang Chih-hsiung (王志雄), learned that investors were buying up the bank’s shares. Wanting to gain control of the bank himself, Wang Chih-hsiung asked Wang Hsuan-jen and Chang to illegally use the bank’s money to purchase shares.
Chang transferred NT$250 million (US$8.38 million) into four shell accounts and then used the money to buy the bank’s shares.
The ruling said the men’s actions constituted a breach of trust.
Wang Hsuan-jen will serve his new sentence after his current term is completed, while Chang will begin serving his jail time soon, the court said.
Wang Hsuan-jen was sentenced to six years and eight months of prison in April 2007 for his role in an illegal loan case involving Taiwan Pineapple Corp. He fled Taiwanese authorities before he was due to begin serving his sentence in May that year.
Wang’s repatriation made him the first major Taiwanese economic criminal to be returned from China after the Kinmen Agreement was signed on Sept. 12, 1990.
Wang Chih-hsiung (王志雄) also fled to China and Taiwanese judicial authorities are still seeking his repatriation.
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