The Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld the conviction of Kuo Ying-chih (郭盈志), the owner of an unlicensed cooking oil factory, and his employee, Shih Min-yu (施閔毓), for contravening the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), but reduced their prison sentences.
Kuo, who was formerly known as Kuo Lieh-cheng (郭烈成), was convicted of eight counts of contravening the act in connection to a 2014 tainted oil scandal.
Yesterday’s ruling reduced his prison term to 19 years and four months, while Shih’s sentence was reduced to 20 months.
Photo: CNA
Kuo’s factory in Pingtung County was a supplier to Chang Guann Co Ltd (強冠企業), which sold lard and other cooking oil products. An investigation found that Kuo and Shih bought recycled oil from leather goods factories, hog feed producers, fish processing plants, restaurant grease traps and kitchen fryers, as well as inferior-grade fat labeled as not for human consumption.
The supplies were mixed into cooking oil products, which Kuo claimed were fit for human consumption and sold to Chang Guann.
Chang Guann used Kuo’s oils in various products, including “fragrant lard oil” under its cooking oil brand of Chuan Tung (全統), which were sold in markets nationwide, as well as to restaurants and street food vendors.
The tainted oil scandal eventually ensnared Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品工業), a subsidiary of Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), which purchased oil products from Chang Guann for the manufacture of various food products.
In the first ruling in the case, the Pingtung District Court in July 2015 convicted Kuo and Shih on charges of aggravated fraud and contravening the act, handing Kuo a 12-year sentence and Shih an eight-year term.
The men appealed, and in August 2016 the Taiwan High Court upheld their convictions, but raised Kuo’s sentence to 23 years and six months while reducing Shih’s to 30 months.
In yesterday’s ruling, the judges’ said the leniency shown to Shih was warranted because “Shih was hired to help mix the oil materials for processing and served as a truck driver for deliveries to other companies. He only followed instructions given by Kuo and did not take part in decisionmaking on sale and pricing negotiations. All of the money went to Kuo.”
“As all the business decisions and company operations were directed by Kuo, it is therefore considered that Shih played a lesser role in the criminal offenses. He also cooperated with the judiciary during the investigation,” the statement said.
Yesterday’s ruling can be appealed.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
RSS