Taichung Commercial Bank chairman Wang Kuei-fong (王貴鋒) was yesterday detained and held incommunicado on suspicion of misspending more than NT$1 billion (US$31.69 million) in company funds on personal luxuries, including a rental property in central Taipei and a private jet.
Prosecutors said that Wang used Taichung Bank assets in a range of transactions with Top Speed Leasing and Finance Co (極緻租賃公司), a company owned by his friend Chou Che-nan (周哲男), who was also detained and held incommunicado yesterday.
In addition to renting several luxury vehicles, Wang allegedly used the bank’s money to rent a Bombardier Challenger 350 private jet from Chou’s company, which he used for private trips abroad with family and friends.
Photo: CNA
Wang is also suspected of using bank funds to rent and decorate a luxury property owned by Chou’s company in Taipei, which he used for private receptions, prosecutors said.
From 2014 to 2018, Wang transferred varying sums of the bank’s money to Chou’s marketing company for unspecified “advertising fees,” prosecutors said, adding that he is believed to have misappropriated more than NT$1 billion in total.
During a search last month, New Taipei City prosecutors seized seven luxury vehicles and two motorcycles in connection with the investigation, and also detained Wang, Chou and Taichung Bank Insurance Broker Co chairwoman Lai Li-tzu (賴麗姿) for questioning.
During an initial hearing, the New Taipei City District Court set bail of between NT$3 million and NT$15 million for the three suspects.
However, prosecutors appealed the decision. On Friday, the High Court reversed the judgement and sent it back to the lower court.
At a follow-up bail hearing yesterday, the New Taipei City District Court ordered that Wang and Chou be detained and held incommunicado, as both were suspected of serious breaches of the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), and could try to flee the country, collude with others or destroy evidence.
The court set bail at NT$5 million for Lai, who is suspected of crimes including breach of trust. It set restrictions on her place of residence and banned her from leaving the country.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS