Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co chairman Chen Ching-nan (陳慶男) was yesterday released on bail after the Kaohsiung District Court approved a request to reduce his bail from NT$100 million (US$3.23 million) to NT$32 million.
Chen, who has been charged with fraud relating to a naval procurement contract, had been under judicial detention since June.
The court said it approved his defense lawyer’s request to reduce the bail in consideration of Chen’s advanced age (78) and deteriorating health on the condition that he stay in his residence in Kaohsiung and report to the neighborhood police twice a day.
Chen, along with four other people affiliated with the shipbuilding company, were indicted on fraud, breach of trust and banking law contraventions in February.
The other four are Chen’s wife, Chen Lu Chao-hsia (陳盧昭霞), the company director; his son, Chen Wei-chih (陳偉志), the deputy chairman; former chief executive officer Chien Liang-chien (簡良鑑); and former company consultant Lee Wei-feng (李維峰).
The case stemmed from 2014, when Ching Fu Shipbuilding won the NT$35.85 billion contract with the Republic of China Navy to construct six minesweepers.
However, the Ministry of National Defense dissolved the contract in December last year, after finding financial irregularities.
Chen Ching-nan, who had been out on bail, was detained in June after his son jumped bail and fled abroad in May.
The court ordered that his bail be raised to NT$100 million.
Prosecutors said Ching Fu had forged proof-of-material procurement documents to give the impression that the company was meeting the phase targets for the minesweeper contract.
Following the news, New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) condemned the decision.
“This is outrageous. How can the bail court permit chairman Chen to be released on bail? Did they not see that his son jumped bail and fled the country?” Huang said.
“I don’t believe the NT$32 million bail will stop Chen from fleeing,” Huang said. “Chen and his company owed banks and their contractors billions of NT dollars, but claimed they were poor and have no money to pay them back. Yet, within one day, his family was able to get hold of NT$32 million to pay his bail. This is unbelievable.”
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
RSS