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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by