Benson Lin (林俊仁), the owner of Cobrasonic Software Co (庫柏資訊), was late on Monday released on NT$200,000 (US$6,504) bail after being questioned by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office about allegations that his company recruited personnel for Chinese firms.
His wife and seven others were also summoned for questioning as witnesses in a case involving alleged contraventions of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
Lin’s company, a self-branded supporter of the adage “cybersecurity is national security,” has been accused of hiring Taiwanese personnel for Chinese firms.
Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei Times
According to prosecutors, Cobrasonic Software Co is one of few companies in Taiwan that are capable of in-house research and development, and focuses on the information security sector.
However, it abused its status by allegedly recruiting personnel for Sinoregal, a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned Fujian Electronics and Information Group.
While Sinoregal’s subsidiary Feig Science and Technology Development (Taiwan) Co is a registered Taiwanese company that is fully compliant with Ministry of Economic Affairs regulations, it is banned from recruiting research and development talent unless approved by the ministry, as it is a Chinese-funded company.
However, Feig Science and Technology Development found a loophole to hire engineers through Cobrasnic by proxy, by offering 10 days of special leave and wages “far exceeding those mandated by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法),” prosecutors said.
Cobrasonic has been hiring engineers since 2016, prosecutors said.
Once the new hires report for duty, Cobrasonic refers them to Feig Science and Technology Development for work, they said.
Cobrasonic has total capital of NT$100 million and about 50 employees in Taiwan. It is a regular attendee and organizer of information security forums, focused on the banking, medical and corporate sectors.
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