The owner of a mask supplier accused of importing more than 3 million nonmedical-grade masks from China and selling them through the government’s mask rationing system was yesterday questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of fraud before being released on NT$3.5 million (US$118,495) bail.
While being questioned at the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office, Lin Ming-chin (林明進), owner of New Taipei City-based Carry Hi-tech, reportedly denied that the imported masks were of lower quality than those made in Taiwan.
Prosecutors early yesterday summoned Lin for questioning and said they are considering charging him with fraud and breaches of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法).
Photo: CNA
He was released at 5am after posting bail, and declined to speak with reporters.
Investigators on Friday searched Lin’s factory in Bali District (八里) and two other locations, seizing about 700,000 Chinese-made, nonmedical-grade masks, NT$8 million in cash, accounting books, computers and other evidence.
Lin allegedly imported the Chinese masks for about NT$1 each, then relabeled and repackaged them for sale to the government for NT$3.1 each, investigators said.
Investigators are still working to determine the exact amount of the company’s profit on the products, as well as the quantity of imported masks and their destination, they said.
On Wednesday, a pharmacist in Sanchong District (三重) discovered that a shipment of Carry Hi-tech masks had a “Made in Anhui” package label in simplified Chinese.
After investigating the claim, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Carry Hi-tech to halt production, and on Thursday told a news conference that the company had last month imported 3.37 million nonmedical-grade masks from China for use in the government’s mask rationing program.
That evening, when speaking to reporters, Lin defended the quality of the masks, saying they were industrial-grade masks and were comparable to, if not better than, Taiwan-made masks.
He also accused the government of overburdening his company with steep production quotas in requisitioning domestic mask production.
None of the masks Carry Hi-tech imported from China were among those Taiwan had donated to other countries, the government said.
Meanwhile, the Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday announced measures to address the matter.
The center on Friday had said that people who purchased masks with the “Carry mask” logo imprinted on them through the government rationing system could exchange the products at four major convenience stores and pharmacy chains, center supply division head Tsai Shou-chuan (蔡壽洤) said.
After reconsideration, people can only exchange the masks at National Health Insurance-contracted pharmacies and local public health centers until Friday next week, he said.
The center would also take legal action against Carry Hi-tech to reclaim the expense of exchanging the masks, he added.
As of Friday, 535,975 masks have been recalled, including 497,112 from New Taipei City, 24,648 from Yilan County, 8,860 from Taipei and a few additional masks from other places, Tsai said.
About 1 million Carry masks remain at post offices, which have been sealed for safekeeping, and Chunghwa Post would collect unsold and returned masks at pharmacies, he said.
Whether the masks would be destroyed or returned to Carry Hi-tech depends on the court’s decision, he added.
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater