Former SET TV host Lee Tian-yi (李天怡) was yesterday released on bail of NT$500,000 (US$17,934) after being questioned the previous night over suspected profiteering and breach of faith in an animal importation case.
Lee, her husband, Kuo Jen-chieh (郭人杰), and the couple’s friend Tony Lee (李吳達), who jointly set up a company to help import animals for a local wildlife park, were on Monday taken for questioning by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office following five separate raids on undisclosed locations by Investigation Bureau agents.
Taipei prosecutors said that the trio’s company was commissioned by SET Group general manager Chang Rong-hua (張榮華) to import giraffes, white rhinos and antelopes from Africa on behalf of Wanpi World Safari Zoo in Tainan, which is owned by the group.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The deal was first discussed in 2020, but the importation of the animals was called off in August last year after local animal rights advocates protested.
Prosecutors allege that while the deal was still on, the company inflated the quoted cost of the animals by an estimated US$250,000, and that some of the money was transferred to Lee Tian-yi’s and Kuo’s bank accounts even though the animals were never imported.
The prosecutors did not specify why payments were made to the company before the animals were imported or how the contract between it and SET Group was structured.
However, they said that the three could face charges for breach of trust and a contravention of the Criminal Code for falsifying the cost of the animals.
Kuo and Tony Lee were also released on bail of NT$400,000 and NT$300,000 respectively.
Lee Tian-yi resigned from all her duties at SET TV when news of the case broke.
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