Former minister of agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲), National Animal Industry Foundation president Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) and Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) were summoned by Taipei prosecutors this morning for questioning as defendants in an egg import scandal case.
As per a report from the Control Yuan, in 2022 the foundation tasked with importing eggs during a major shortage was defrauded by more than NT$100 million (US$3.12 million).
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Many of the eggs expired in storage, resulting in the disposal of more than 54 million.
The foundation contracted a firm called Brilliance Biotechnology (亮采生物科技) to import the eggs from Japan from March to May 2022, followed by procuring Japanese eggs from Ultra Source (超思) from August to November of the same year.
Wu Yu-fei (吳諭非), a food company representative familiar with trade with Japan, coordinated the egg imports and specified Brilliance Biotechnology as the importer, before Chin Yu-chiao (秦語喬), her mother, founded Ultra Source to handle imports, the Control Yuan said.
The Control Yuan report said that the foundation contracted Ultra Source for the imports before the company was officially registered, failed to inspect the quantity or quality of the imports, and retroactively filled out contract paperwork.
The report accused Ultra Source of defrauding the foundation of more than NT$100 million and said that Brilliance Biotechnology inflated import expenses by more than NT$10 million.
Last month, investigators searched 14 locations related to the case and questioned eight people, including employees from the companies, the foundation and the ministry.
After questioning, Chin, Lin I-lung (林宜龍), head of Brilliance Biotechnology; Wu Chun-ta (吳俊達), then a specialist at the foundation; and Lin Chang-hsien (林昌憲), an employee at Brilliance Biotechnology, were released on bail of NT$2 million, NT$1 million, NT$500,000 and NT$300,000 respectively.
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