Staff at GTIC Holdings (金品軒集團), including its Singaporean owner, Victor Soh (蘇珖量), and general manager Lo Lee-chee (羅湘盈), a Chinese-Malaysian, were yesterday indicted for allegedly operating illegal financial schemes that promised high returns for investing in gold and precious metals.
Soh’s business activities cover Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.
Taipei prosecutors said evidence showed that GTIC’s operations contravened Taiwan’s business laws, with illegal profits of more than NT$37.2 million (US$1.34 million) made from Taiwanese investors.
Screen grab from the GTIC Gold Refinery Co Web Site
Soh and his girlfriend Lo, who reportedly obtained Taiwanese citizenship through long-term residency, made a profit of more than NT$70 million in Taiwan, by offering shares of two unlisted GTIC companies on over-the-counter markets, they said.
Investigators said Soh, Lo and GTIC executives targeted the Chinese-speaking population in China and Southeast Asia.
Taipei prosecutors also indicted seven other GTIC staff members, including chief financial officer Lai Chien-cheng (賴建成), e-commerce head Lee Ping-hua (李秉樺), business education head Hsu Ming-te (許明德), accountant Chou Ching-hsuan (周靜萱), an executive secretary surnamed Chang (張), and two sales managers surnamed Lin (林) and Wu (吳).
They were charged with contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) and the Banking Act (銀行法).
The illegal schemes were based on the promise of high returns for investing in gold and precious metals.
Soh allegedly said his conglomerate owned and operated GTIC Gold Refinery Co, as well as authorized oil companies in the United Arab Emirates, and had joint ventures with two major mining companies in Canada and gold trading firms in China.
According to the company’s Web site, GTIC is an international conglomerate headquartered in Singapore, with major gold, precious metal and petroleum trading businesses.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS