The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld two lower court rulings acquitting former CTBC Financial Holding Co vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) of embezzling company funds and other illegal financial dealings.
The case started in 2016, when the now-defunct Special Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office indicted Koo and other CTBC Financial executives on four counts of embezzlement.
Three of the counts related to the transfer of a combined US$300 million from CTBC Financial to accounts controlled by Koo and his late father, Jeffrey Koo Sr (辜濂松), as well as his former brother-in-law, Steven Chen (陳俊哲), from 2004 to 2007.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
Jeffrey Koo Jr was also indicted for involvement in the use of funds from the group’s insurance arm, CTBC Life Insurance Co, to purchase real estate from Global Funeral Services Corp (國寶服務) in 2014 and 2015.
Prosecutors said that Jeffrey Koo Jr’s acquisitions from Global Funeral Services were made at an unreasonably high price, helping the company profit while CTBC Life Insurance Co incurred losses of more than NT$100 million (US$3.13 million at the current exchange rate).
In August 2019, the Taipei District Court acquitted Jeffrey Koo Jr of alleged embezzlement of about US$300 million from the financial institution and other financial crimes that reached into the upper echelons of Taiwan’s major conglomerates and their subsidiaries, including Chu Guo-rong (朱國榮), former president of Global Funeral Services Corp, citing a lack of evidence.
Chu was sentenced by the district court to 12 years and four months in jail for insider trading and stock manipulation.
In April last year, Jeffrey Koo Jr was also cleared of embezzlement charges by the High Court, but Chu was given a longer sentence of 16 years.
Despite prosecutors appealing the decision on Jeffrey Koo Jr’s case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the not guilty verdict and maintained the 16-year sentence for Chu.
It also ruled that Jeffrey Koo Jr and other defendants do not need to pay CTBC NT$117.55 million in compensation, a request the Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center made in a lawsuit against Jeffrey Koo Jr.
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