Executives of beverage chain Barista Coffee have been found guilty of fraud for misrepresenting beans they sold, with the Shilin District Court on Tuesday sentencing them to short prison stays that can be commuted to fines.
The company was found to have mixed robusta coffee beans into coffee advertised as being 100 percent Arabica beans in several products starting in 2018, the court said.
It ordered the confiscation of Barista Coffee’s ill-gotten gains of about NT$18.29 million (US$604,209) and handed two executives prison terms.
Photo: Wen Yu-te, Taipei Times
Barista Coffee general manager Liu Tzeng-shyang (劉增祥) was given a six-month sentence, which can be commuted to a fine of NT$3,000 per day, and a two-year suspended sentence.
Liu was also fined an additional NT$3 million and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.
A factory manager surnamed Lee (李) was given a four-month sentence, which can be commuted to a fine of NT$1,000 per day, and a two-year suspended sentence.
Lee was also fined an additional NT$300,000 and ordered to perform 60 hours of community service.
Another defendant, a manager in the company’s coffee roasting department surnamed Ho (何), was found not guilty.
Prosecutors had accused the three of using robusta beans to make up 13 to 26 percent of beverages that the company said were Arabica drinks.
The actions of the three contravened Article 15 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), which prohibits the sale of adulterated or counterfeit food items, and Article 255 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits misrepresenting merchandise.
However, the court found Liu and Lee guilty only on the Criminal Code charges, saying that the robusta beans were of the same caliber as the Arabica beans, so using them did not constitute a food safety issue.
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