An executive at Nankang Rubber Tire Corp has been held on suspicion of receiving NT$1.5 billion (US$50 million) in kickbacks from the firm’s suppliers.
Chen Chi-ching (陳啟清), 64, was detained and questioned yesterday at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Chen was in charge of procurement in his role as assistant general manager of the materials department at Nankang Rubber Tire, a publicly listed company which manufactures tires and other rubber products.
The company is touted as the largest tire producer in the nation, with its brand of performance tires exported to more than 100 markets worldwide.
When prosecutors and police units searched Chen’s house in Hsinchu City on Wednesday, they reportedly uncovered more than NT$200 million stuffed into suitcases and boxes, officials said. Prosecutors also took away receipts, bank account statements, purchase orders and other papers as evidence, they said.
A spokesperson at the prosecutors’ office said Chen is suspected of demanding kickback payments from rubber materials suppliers, starting in 1997.
“One supplier [allegedly] initially had to pay Chen US$7 for the sale of 1 tonne of natural rubber material, which was raised to US$40 per tonne later on. Chen [allegedly] received about NT$230 million in total from just this supplier alone,” the spokesperson said, adding that “Chen went around to all the rubber suppliers for price comparisons and jacked up the kickback amount. From more than a dozen suppliers, we estimate Chen received about NT$1.5 billion in overall kickbacks.”
Chen’s wife, Chang Yue-chiao (張月蕉), was also detained, as a suspected accomplice.
Prosecutors said Chen opened a US dollar bank account in Mauritius, an African island nation in the Indian Ocean known as a tax haven for foreigners.
Officials said that Chen’s wife was thought to be responsible for making telephone calls to suppliers and trading companies with instructions on making wire deposits to the Mauritius account, which prosecutors said has a balance of more than US$3 million.
Chen and his wife have been charged with money laundering and breach of trust, as well as with violating the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法).
The alleged activities came to light when Nankang Rubber Tire chairman Chiang Ching-hsing (江慶興) found his company’s materials procurement deals always ran up higher costs than other competitors in the tire business.
Chiang, a retired policeman, talked with suppliers and found that Chen had allegedly taken advantage of his position to demand kickbacks.
Authorities said the stash of NT$200 million found in Chen’s home was transported to a bank for verification, then taken for storage at the National Treasury yesterday.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as