Executives of a real-estate investment company are being investigated for persuading Taiwanese to purchase international properties that allegedly led investors to lose a total of NT$1.2 billion (US$38.96 million).
Police and Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau agents on Thursday raided the eight offices of Asia Pacific International Property Co and Web site Taiwan SouFun, an Asia Pacific affiliate, serving the executives with summons for questioning.
On Friday, Asia Pacific owner Huang Tsui-ping (黃純萍), chief operating officer Lu Wei-hsing (呂威興), executive director Chin Chi-sung (秦啟松) and overseas sales manager Chen Mei-hsuan (陳美璇), as well as Yang Chien-chieh (楊建傑) and his wife, Liao Hsiu-min (廖秀敏), who together operated Taiwan SouFun, were questioned, Taipei prosecutors said.
The executives are suspected of financial fraud and breaching the Banking Act (銀行法), the prosecutors said, adding that they would likely bring other charges as well.
On its Web site, Asia Pacific offered investments in properties in the UK, Australia, China, Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Prosecutors said they are specifically investigating NT$1.2 billion in allegedly defrauded funds from two UK investment opportunities offered by Asia Pacific: A car park near Glasgow International Airport in Scotland and a hotel in Liverpool, England.
The two UK properties were first promoted in April 2014, with Asia Pacific offering Taiwanese a share in the car park investment for ￡20,000 (US$25,316) and a share in the hotel for ￡90,000.
Asia Pacific allegedly guaranteed an 8 percent return on the hotel shares, with investors promised returns of 24 percent over three years, while the carpark shares matured over six years, with investors promised returns of 8 percent for the first two years, 10 percent for the next two and 12 percent for the last two.
Taiwan SouFun reportedly set up a company in the UK to manage the property investments and Yang held investment seminars across Taiwan, promoting the two properties, touting the high returns and persuading Taiwanese to invest with the company.
However, some investors discovered that the UK-registered company declared bankruptcy in 2014, while Yang and other executives allegedly continued to pitch the properties and draw more investors into the scheme.
Prosecutors said they were attempting to discover where the suspects were keeping the invested funds.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
RSS