Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒), former vice chairman of CTBC Financial Holding Co and chairman of Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, has been sentenced to seven years and eight months in jail for his role in a property scandal, the Taipei District Court said on Tuesday.
Citing the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), the court said in a statement that Koo and three of his colleagues contravened rules governing transactions with related parties and breach of trust in a 2005 deal in which CTBC Financial bought a building at an inflated price of NT$950 million (US$31.37 million at the current exchange rate) — higher than the fair market price of NT$850 million — causing a loss of NT$100 million for CTBC Financial.
Koo was the vice chairman of the financial firm at the time.
Photo : Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
In 2019, prosecutors indicted Koo and his colleagues — former CTBC Financial chief financial officer Perry Chang (張明田), former CTBC Bank chief financial manager Lin Hsiang-hsi (林祥曦), and former CTBC Investment Service board member Lee Sheng-kai (李聲凱) — for their role in the deal.
Koo and three of his colleagues denied any wrongdoing.
The court said that the transaction, masterminded by the four defendants, had disrupted order in the financial market, and that the four showed a bad attitude after committing the crime.
Chang, Lin and Lee were sentenced to eight years, nine years and six months, and nine years and four months respectively.
While the ruling is subject to an appeal, Koo has been banned from leaving the country, the court said.
The four were also accused of breach of trust, fabricating financial results, and transaction irregularities in another deal in which CTBC Bank, the flagship company of CTBC Financial, bought bad loans from several other companies, prosecutors said.
Koo’s former brother-in-law, Chen Chun-che (陳俊哲), also played a critical role in the building transaction and bad loan case, but as he has fled overseas, he has been placed on a fugitive list, prosecutors said.
CTBC Financial issued a statement saying the court had misunderstood these transactions and insisted the deals were favorable to the company.
CTBC Financial said it supported Koo and his colleagues in seeking legal redress to clear their names.
Prosecutors launched an investigation into the building and bad loan transactions after they found irregularities as they were probing another financial scandal involving an offshore “paper company,” Red Fire Development, in 2004.
Last year, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial, citing inadequate reasoning in a High Court decision, which had cleared Koo of allegations in the so-called “Red Fire” case under the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Criminal Code for causing significant financial losses to CTBC Bank.
Koo stepped down as vice chairman of CTBC Financial after he was indicted in the “Red Fire” scandal in 2006.
He now chairs the CTBC Charity Foundation.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS